Who are you
by stev2427
Summary: My own continuation of the Lunar Chronicles. I just couldn't wait for Meyer to do it better! Key note to understanding this story: this book takes place after Cress. (See chapter 8).
1. The visitor

Cinder crept through the groom's quarters until she reached what was quite clearly his private chamber. She had actually made it through. She was a little astonished at how much her glamour had improved over the past month, although she still slipped up now and then. But between Dr. Erland and Wolf, she was getting all the instruction she needed. It wore her down a lot. But it had paid off; she had been able to hide them completely as Iko maneuvered the Rampion through security checkpoints, past swarms of people both protesting and celebrating, and above a myriad of government officials to deposit Cinder in one of the rooftop gardens on the southern end of New Beijing's palace. Iko had then lifted off and Cinder stayed outside, thinking the ship invisible, until it disappeared up into the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere.

Despite the ease of the journey, Cinder was glad that only no one had insisted on coming with her to see Kai. It was tricky to maneuver, what with the halls full of hurrying people, and it would have been much more difficult to keep the others as well as herself under a solid glamour. Besides, it was easier for one carefully-nondescript person to go unnoticed than it was for several in all the hubbub of the first high-profile interplanetary wedding.

And then, of course, Cinder was glad for the privacy. She needed to see Kai, and before it was too late. It might not change anything as neither of them had a choice, but she owed him the truth. And—she wanted to see him. Missed him. Wished that she were just a mechanic and he were just the emperor and that that was only that barrier that stood between them again. The crew had not been happy about this idea. They had formed and were now part of a formal effort to unseat Levana, called the Lunar Resistance, and Cinder was at the head. It would be helpful to have a live figurehead for their purposes. And her friends did not like her throwing herself into the belly of the beast. But Kai could end up helping them down the road, and Cinder was set. They agreed in the end.

Cinder peered at the door in front of her. It had been simple to glamour the last guard into letter her into the emperor's wing and this door didn't seem to have any security. She had no idea what Kai's reaction would be upon finding her in his quarters, 2 hours before his wedding. Would he be angry? Well that was a stupid question. Yes. Could he forgive her? Would he believe her? Cinder took a deep breath, and gently pushed at the door. It swung open.

The room was empty.

Cinder let out her breath and stepped inside. Her cheeks might have tinged pink if they could, at being in Kai's bedroom. A yellow and gold overcoat lay on a wide bed. The coat Kai would be getting married in. To Queen Levana. Cinder looked away. This was good; the coat meant he would be coming back here. She looked around while she waited.

The room was luxuriant, yet simple. White carpeting ran around the room, making Cinder glad that she had cleaned up and wouldn't track dirt everywhere. The walls and bed were white, with accents of red and gold here and there. There were several large windows, light streaming through the thin shades. In the many photographs, Cinder recognized the previous emperor, Kai's father, and a woman who must have been Kai's mother. She carried herself regally, but her face was warm and open. Like Kai's. Several ancient scrolls hung from the walls along with a few portraits. Her eyes snagged then on one piece that truly did not belong in this picture: a rusty, greasy metal foot that sat on the corner of Kai's nightstand. She walked over to it in wonder. He had kept this? She reached a hand toward it.

"Cinder?"

She whirled.

Kai was frozen in the doorway, eyes wide, white undershirt unbuttoned at the wrists and the collar.

"Kai," was all she could think to say, as her rehearsed speeches fled and a longing to go to him filled her. She stood awkwardly as the silence stretched.

Kai moved. He was across the room in three strides, and then his hand was in her hair, his other arm wrapping around her to crush her against him. He pulled her mouth to his. His lips were achingly soft, but hungry, desperate. Cinder kissed him back as he strained against her, deepening the connection, moving his lips against hers. He murmured her name when there was space for air. She pressed one hand to his cheek.

Outside the room, Torin watched, shocked. He had been on his way to help Emperor Kaito prepare for the wedding, and had stepped into the doorway only to find the young ruler, set to _marry_ in 2 hours, passionately kissing a girl in his bedchamber. The girl's heels were raised, her face was a mixture of yearning, relief and despair, and her hands—her hands were cybernetic. No, one hand was.

Linh Cinder.

The lunar cyborg that had caused all this trouble to begin with. He recognized her now, though she was much cleaner than she had been at the coronation ball. Torin's temper flashed and he was about to step into the room with a yell when he paused. He had to protect his country from the wrath that Levana would wreak on them for this girl's sake, but first he took in the face of the emperor. He was a boy of no more than 18, who had lost both parents, been thrust into the position of leader, and would marry a woman who might very well kill him, all in one year. Torin stepped back behind the door. He couldn't leave. He had to watch this girl, to protect this emperor who had a weakness for her. But he would let Kaito have this one last taste of normalcy, of youth-hood, before he was completely trapped in the world of politics.

Kai pulled back, cupping Cinder's face between his hands. His lips were red from their kissing and his eyes were fierce as they looked into hers. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers once more, gently.

"Cinder." He whispered it.

Cinder smiled up at him timidly, feeling lightheaded. Her sensors were flashing warnings at her to calm down. She was confused. That was not the reaction she had been expecting. He wasn't yelling. He wasn't calling for his guards, or even questioning her.

"You're not mad."

"Mad? At you, my angel?" Kai took her hands. Cinder narrowed her eyes slightly, puzzled.

Kai brought her hand up lovingly. Cinder watched him as he cradled the limb. He kissed the delicate skin on the knuckles of her left hand—her cyborg hand, now covered in a beautiful glamour. The orange light flicked on in her vision.

Cinder swore. The glamour slipped away. Kai blinked, his pupils dilating and then refocusing before he stumbled back from her.

"You—"

"Kai."

"You used me."

"No, Kai, please."

"Again! And I fell for it, _again_."

"Kai, it was a mistake. Listen—"

"Your majesty." Torin stepped around the door, kicking himself for allowing that charade to go on. "I'll take her to the guards." Cinder glanced between him and Kai. The situation was spiraling.

"You're exactly the same as Levana. Manipulative and selfish," Kai said as though he could not quite believe it. Torin pulled Cinder away from Kai, crossing her arms behind her back and holding them.

"Kai," Cinder pleaded, her voice rising in desperation. "Please. Emperor Kaito, I came here to tell you something! I risked more than you could guess to come here today. All I ask is a chance—" She ripped one arm free from Torin angrily, "—a chance to explain! Stars, have sense! This is important! Please, Kai!" Torin continued dragging her towards the doors and the nearest guard, but Kai paused.

"Torin." His voice was tense, the threat in it for Cinder alone, and she choked back the burn that should have been accompanied by tears. Torin paused, regaining control of the loose arm and forcing Cinder to her knees.

"You will address Emperor Kaito as 'Your Majesty'."

"Torin," Kai said, his voice a little softer, "Give her a chance to explain." Cinder looked up at him from the floor, ashamed and brought low. Stupid, stupid! How could she have lost control of her glamour so easily? She had been longing to go to him, and suddenly he had come to her. How could she not have sensed that she was controlling him?

"Ka—Your Majesty," Cinder began, "Let me apologize first. I am still getting used to my lunar gift. I didn't glamour you on purpose. I am so sorry."

"How can I believe that you have not been glamouring me for the whole time I have known you? How many times have you used that on me? Made a fool of me?" Kai's voice was low and his cheeks burned. "And now you claim that you _weren't_ trying to manipulate me? Then why didn't you stop me before?"

"I—I thought," Cinder looked down, humiliated, "I had thought that might be your real reaction, Your Majesty."

Kai's eyebrows lifted. His face showed confusion, desperation, a hint of wanting to believe her.

"How am I supposed to trust you?" He asked her. His eyes begged her to give him a way.

Cinder looked at him miserably.

"This may be a start." She looked at Torin and gently pulled on one of her arms, but he held fast. Cinder sighed and kicked off her boot.

"Look in the compartment in the back of my calf." Kai blanched a little but bent down and rolled up her pant leg, his ears reddening. He opened the compartment and pulled out the device that had been installed at the top of Cinder's spine for so many years.

"That device blocks bioelectric manipulation. When installed at the top of your spine, it will protect a human from manipulation by lunars. In a lunar, it will both protect them from others' manipulation and prevent them from using their own gift. That particular one was in me until about a month ago, when it started malfunctioning. Giving you this is one of the reasons I came here today. I have a feeling you might need of it soon."

Kai simply looked at her. Emotions flitted across his face, too fast for her to catch, before he settled on bewildered.

"Who are you?" He asked. Cinder gulped and straightened as best she could from where Torin still pinned her.

"I am Princess Selene."


	2. Glamour

Silence.

Kai gaped. Torin stared.

"What?" Kai asked, incredulous.

"I'm Princess Selene," Cinder said again, willing him to believe her.

"You—I don't… what?" Kai stood aghast. He stared at the girl kneeling at his feet. Shifting, shifting, she was never the same, never what she seemed, never wholly, simply Cinder. Never the person he had felt might understand him. Now that her glamour had faded, he had regained control of himself. He saw her again as he had when her back was turned, as her eyes fell softly pictures of his mother, on his token of Cinder herself. She was the same girl that he had met that day in a shabby booth of New Beijing's weekly market. But what a façade. Who—what was she really? He was beginning to realize how little he actually knew.

"Dr. Erland told me when I was in your prison cell. He gave me this new hand and foot—" She gestured with her metallic limbs "—and since getting out I've found more. Michelle Benoit, Kai, she _was_ involved, and she has a gra—"

"Your majesty, I would advise you not to get tangled in _web of lies_ without being able to confirm them," Torin interrupted, "We cannot trust her."

"I'm not lying," Cinder snapped, twisting in Torin's grip.

"And we are supposed to take your word for that?" Torin threw back, "Haven't you done enough damage to this regime? You realize that relations with Luna have never been worse because of your actions? You understand that if the Emperor should die at the hands of Levana, the blame falls to you?" Cinder swallowed, her eyes growing large, but didn't dispute it.

Kai turned away, rubbing his temple. He had never seen Torin goaded into snapping at someone like that. He walked to the window and peered through the shades at the public alter that had been constructed in front of the palace so the citizens of New Beijing could watch the wedding ceremony. Beyond it was the edge of a small cliff and below that the city spread out in all directions. He thought about Cinder's claim. It had a certain logic. She was the right age. She was definitely lunar. Remembering Nainsy's descriptions of the princess's injuries, Kai realized why Cinder's extensive cybernetic repair might have been necessary. This would explain Levana's unexpected hatred of Cinder—she must have recognized her somehow. And Cinder's glamour… It was terrifying. Stronger than Levana's. Yet, different. It seemed less controlled, as though it wasn't quite sure what to do with itself. It did not empty him of his own thoughts and emotions as much as it seemed to reveal to him that he wanted what Cinder wanted.

Kai wasn't sure which of them was worse.

But did that mean that Cinder could actually be Princess Selene?

"Your majesty," Torin spoke up, "Perhaps we should involve the Queen in this discussion. Given that the _cyborg_ is the reason for her anger and the necessity of your marriage alliance, it is more than likely we will be able to make a deal by using her. Levana will also be able to tell us if she speaks the truth."

Cinder froze where she knelt. Kai paused. "Are you serious? What if she _is_ the Lunar princess? Levana would hardly let her live."

"She will be more valuable in negotiations if that is her true identity."

Kai stared at him. "What about all of our research? All the time we put into finding her? All for the hope that she could help us _defeat_ Levana, not so that we could hand her over like some trophy—"

Cinder suddenly jerked her arms, wrenching them free and spinning around in Torin's grip. She stared into his eyes a moment before she ducked and twisted away, and they both landed hard on the carpet, each scrambling for purchase.

Kai could not comprehend what was going on. He watched Torin, _Torin_, the calm, collected man who had advised his father for so many years, _wrestling_ with a girl on his bedroom floor. Calculating, with his many years of rigidly disciplined martial arts training, the best way to take her down. And _Cinder_ was on the ground fighting him back. Kai's mind reeled. Torin's nails drew blood from Cinder's wrist as he struggled to gain purchase. She rolled away, knocking him onto his back with a kick. Cinder crouched and lunged at him. He shifted his weight so that she spun over his back.

* * *

"ENOUGH!" Kai shouted, stepping between them as they turned to continue the fight. Both stopped moving, breathing hard.

Torin began, "Emperor Kait—"

Cinder reach around Kai and punched Torin hard in the nose with her metal fist. He rolled, moaning in pain. Kai dropped his arms, exasperated, glaring at Cinder. "Was that necessary?"

Cinder glanced at Kai and moved to crouch near Torin, helping him to sit upright. "Are you all right?" She asked, "Can you think for yourself?" Kai knit his eyebrows together.

"Yes," Torin said thickly, "Whad…?" Cinder held out a hand to him, showing him a small twist of shining metal.

"This was in your nose. It's a chip. Programmed by the royal lunar programmer herself, who happens to be a friend."

Torin and Kai stared at the thing in Cinder's palm, Torin looking slightly sick. "Whad? Dhe royal ludar programmer?" He asked, a hand to his bleeding nose, glaring at Cinder. "A _fried_ of yours, and she put dhat _id my ndose? _And you expect us to—"

"She's not _for_ the queen! And she's the ex-royal programmer— it's a long—"

"_All right_." Kai said. He turned to Cinder. "What does this mean?"

"It means they know I'm here." Kai paled. "So can we _move_, and I'll tell you on the way? We have to give you some protection from Levana's gift before the wedding, which means we need to get to a surgeon right away."

"Surgeon? I—"

"Look, Kai," Cinder interrupted, "This is really urgent. Sibyl or someone is probably on their way now. Can we please continue this while verifying the device?"

"Emperor Kaido, I sdill—"

"And don't you think," Cinder continued, "that if I were untrustworthy I would have already glamoured you?" She turned to Torin, "Because you must realize I'm capable of it."

Kai hesitated. It was true he thought he could tell the difference between being glamoured or not, and his own instinct told him he could trust Cinder implicitly, but, still feeling the ghost of her pressed against him, he was not sure his thoughts towards her would ever be unbiased. He weighed the options. He did not think it likely that Cinder was here to kill him, but if he went with her, that she would take Torin and him hostage was a possibility. Certainly within her power. And he could not simply abandon his country now. Although, Kai suddenly realized, that that would prevent Levana from becoming Empress. He shot a suspicious glance at Cinder. On the other hand, even if he sent Cinder away, Levana had been appeased with the promise of marriage for as long as she could be. She would probably kill him as soon as she got the opportunity to seize the Commonwealth unopposed, or would at least brainwash him into giving her control. If Cinder could give him some sort of defense against Levana... Kai wondered, too, if he had the power to send Cinder away.

"All right. We'll go down to the research wing. But it will be challenging to get there. Every time I set foot outside my rooms I am swarmed with people—unless, is it possible for you to disguise us?"

Cinder brightened. "Of course. Let's go."

* * *

They started out the door, Torin looking wary but reluctantly following upon a look from Kai. Cinder walked ahead of them. Her clothes had transformed to a servant's to Kai's eyes. The guard at the entrance to the emperor's wing was startled to see the three come through the doors.

"See, now, who are you? What are you doing in the royal chambers?"

Torin stepped forward with his mouth open, but Cinder pushed him back and dropped a quick curtsey. "We didn't come from the royal wing, Shifu. We came through that door to the Eastern atrium, see? We are a bit rushed now. So thank you." She hurried forward, nudging Torin, who looked around, perplexed. All he saw was a palace servant following them.

"Where—"

"That's the Emperor, Torin," Cinder spoke low, gesturing. "We're all maids, you too. So don't go talking down to the palace guards." The other maid was staring back at Torin, disbelieving and mildly amused.

"Or flirting with them, I'd say," Kai said, his voice high and lilting, "You're rather pretty, Torin." Cinder laughed.

Kai quickened his pace to whisper to Cinder. "So what was the chip they planted? And how do you know Levana's programmer?"

"In a minute," Cinder said. They headed through another door and were in a stream of people in a main hallway, pushing carts of food, carrying decorations and flowers, rushing by with checklists. Kai's jaw dropped. He was quite used to a crowd parting for him to make his way through. This perspective of the palace was quite different.

"C'mon," Cinder said, ducking into the crowd. Kai paused, uncertain. This should not be the hard part. He looked at Torin, but the gruff, uncomfortable maid looking back at him was not the place to find reassurance.

"Let's go." They wove through the crowd after Cinder, trying to keep up, bumping into people and stumbling more than once.

"Watch it!" Someone said as a cart ran over Kai's foot, the obstacle sending a few fresh buns of bread spilling to the floor. Kai recognized Bora, a pretty and outspoken cook he knew from the kitchens. She stopped the traffic dead in the hallway, swooping down to pick up her buns before they were trampled. People stared at the two clumsy girls who had disrupted the chaotic flow of the hallway.

"Move, get out of the way," an angry, shrill voice called. Kai stiffened. "What is the meaning of this?" Sibyl, the head Lunar thaumaturge came into view, stopping behind the cart and the press of people blocking the way. Bora looked up.

"An accident, A yi. In the crowds, I knocked into a maid, and… my rolls…" She trailed off, her pale skin growing paler as Sibyl glowered.

"It was my fault," Kai stepped forward, unwilling to let Bora take the blame. Sibyl whirled on him. "I am unused to the castle and I got in the way of her cart. She isn't to blame."

"Insolent…" Sibyl stepped towards Kai and Torin when Cinder melted out of the crowd, stepping between them.

"Please, A yi, pay her no heed. She is a new hire, of no importance…" Kai lowered his head, suddenly shamed. What had he been thinking? Addressing Thaumaturge Sibyl when he was not worthy of her attention, not worthy of anyone's attention, and when the woman was in such a hurry to leave this hallway... Kai suddenly realized he was catching the effects of Cinder's glamour as she willed the Thaumaturge to move on.

"Yes, fine, just move! I must get through." Sibyl turned her attention from them, and Cinder pulled Kai forward, this time keeping her hand in his as she expertly maneuvered down the hallway. Torin followed closely.

* * *

"How do you know the way?" Kai asked. Cinder tapped her temple.

"Map of the palace." Right. Cyborg. And now they were all glamoured like Lunars. This was insanity. He was probably on his way to be kidnapped. They finally broke out of the hallway and soon were down in the research wing. The halls here were deserted. Kai stopped moving.

"Cinder, please. You can't expect us to keep following you on this crazy race. You need to explain, or I am going back."

"Wait. Dr. Erland is down here, with the new lead researcher, he said. We'll need your own doctor to verify the device so your advisor will allow it when Dr. Erland places it in your spine."

"Wha—I—ok, I don't know about that… but Erland is here too?" Kai tried to regain his mental balance and failed miserably. "OK, I'll take you to Dr. Hamdi, but you will _talk_ on our way there."

Cinder sighed and spoke low. "I think Sibyl was on her way to your quarters. I'm sure she knows I'm in the palace. This device—" She held up the chip that she'd taken from Torin "—has a microphone. The person who put it plants it can hear anything close enough to it, in this case probably anything Torin said, through a direct link." They hurried around a corner and down another hall, Kai leading. "It also acts as a sort-of router. Having the signal so close to Torin gives the owner a focal point for bioelectric manipulation, meaning they could glamour Torin from a distance, and that no one else could glamour him when they had control."

Kai stared at her. "They've been controlling my _head advisor_?" He shook his head. Levana was always a step ahead of him.

"Mostly listening, I would guess," Cinder said, "It would be pretty obvious if they glamoured him, especially because you two know the difference."

Torin stepped up beside them as they reached a set of doors. His appearance had gone back to normal, and it matched his unhappy expression much better than had the maid's. "I suppose you were right, then, Your Majesty," he said, "Levana _was_ able to spy on us, and I was how she was doing it." He sounded a little defeated.

* * *

Inside, Dr. Erland was standing in a laboratory with a doctor Cinder had never seen before. They both turned at their entrance. The doctor eyed Cinder curiously, recognition flashing in her eyes. Cinder supposed she recognized her from her disastrous mis-escape from the Coronation Ball.

"Your Highness." Dr. Erland smiled and swept a deep bow to Kai, removing the cap he wore. "It is so good to see you well. And almost a married man, eh?" He chuckled.

Kai stared at the doctor he had known almost all of his life. He, too, was not what he appeared. Was not who Kai had thought he had been. "Dr. Erland," he said, and nothing else came out. Finally, Kai managed, "You left," somewhat accusingly.

"Ah, yes, well, I did not think it would be looked highly upon that aided in the escape of our little Princess here." Cinder scowled at him, and Kai glanced at her, unsettled to be reminded of her new – supposed – identity. The doctor continued, "I went to Africa to research the first instances of the Letumosis contagion. But all of that later. You are late, and we have only 110 minutes! Let's make it so your bride-to-be does not control you every thought, hm?"


	3. Surgery

Cinder paced.

She and Torin waited in an office adjacent to the operating room. Earlier, while Dr. Hamdi verified Cinder's device and Dr. Erland assisted her, Cinder had tried to hurriedly explain both the device and the reason she was there to Kai and Torin.

* * *

"It's a spinal and nervous system bioelectric security block," she had said. "We call it a Bio. It was invented by my stepfather, Linh Garan, before he died. But Cress and I have managed to make a few improvements. Now it gets a little warm when someone is trying to glamour you, so you're aware that it's happening.

"And it blocks—what was it? _Bioelectric manipulation_?"

"Exactly. This one also blocks the effects more quickly than the last models."

Kai chewed on his cheek, checking to see what Torin thought of this. The advisor was clearly not apt to play along. Kai turned back to Cinder frowning. "And why am I to use yours?"

Cinder tugged at her ponytail a little sheepishly. "It's the latest model. We've been using that one in experiments. Cress rigged it so that it interacts with your brain through a magnetic field, similar to the router. It still needs a direct connection to your nervous system, but it doesn't have to be the brain itself."

"So I'm the guinea pig."

It's really very safe—"

"Oh yeah, brain surgery an hour and a half before my wedding to Levana sounds _incredibly_ safe."

"It's not _brain_ surgery. It just has to be implanted nearby…"

Cinder had tilted her head at him, watching as he rolled his eyes at her. Kai had grown older in the month since they saw each other. Right now he was perfectly trimmed, clipped, and cleansed for the coming ceremony. He just needed the coat lying on his bed upstairs to become the picture of the quiet pride and strength of the Eastern Commonwealth. But his brown eyes were framed with shadows. His brow was creased with worry. Cinder missed the easy familiarity they had had before he knew what she was. She sensed, in his expression, in his sometimes delayed questioning of her motives, that he did not want to treat her like an enemy. But she had practically made it his obligation as emperor to be suspicious of her.

* * *

Torin was sitting across the office from Cinder now, somehow both stoic and apologetic. He had been a bit shell-shocked, after Dr. Erland ran a test of her DNA for them, to find that Cinder was telling the truth. Cinder felt bad for the royal advisor. Today had confirmed a few of Kai's conspiracy theories which Torin had always assumed were false, and he seemed a little worn down. Even so, he was the picture of control and collectedness.

"How can you sit so still?" Cinder asked him. Torin looked at her with a wry smile.

"Years of practice. In politics you have to know both when to act fast and when to stay in place." Cinder stopped her pacing momentarily. "Although," Torin continued, "In this case, I imagine it helps that I'm not in love with the emperor."

Cinder straightened. She wondered if he would have dared say something so bold to a more experienced ruler. "Well that's a relief," she said, "And here I thought I was going to have to discourage you from pursuing him."

Torin didn't even blink. Cinder was not sure if the sarcasm was lost on him or not.

"I'm glad you recognize the folly of such things," he said simply.

Unsure how to respond, Cinder resumed circling the room. Somehow Kai's 20-minute surgery felt like it was taking much longer. Convincing Kai to get the Bio implanted had forced her to confront him both about being both a cyborg and Lunar. Cinder had thought voicing it would make their situation clearer, but she still didn't know what Kai really thought.

She felt like she had to tread carefully around him. It was pretty clear now, that despite what Thorn might assure Cinder of, Kai at least had misgivings about personally having something cyborg-like implanted. As for being Lunar, at first neither Kai nor Torin believed that she hadn't known, and therefore hadn't been deliberately lying to Kai. And every time it was mentioned they exchanged the look that was beginning to exasperate Cinder.

* * *

"You really had no idea?" Kai had voiced the question for the third time. Torin added, "How could you possibly not know?"

"We're not _that_ different from Earthens. Same species, you know." Torin snorted delicately through his still-swollen nose. Cinder shot him a glance.

Kai sighed. "It makes me feel a little better, actually. If _you_ didn't know there were Lunars in the Commonwealth, then I certainly can't be held responsible for not knowing." He laughed a little. "But this thing, Cinder— I don't know about it. I really don't think the people of the Commonwealth will take to that idea of their ruler having a brain interface."

Cinder stepped back, stung. "I'm sorry the idea is so repugnant," she said, attempting indifference. "I suppose you'll have to decide whether you and your people fear Lunars or cyborgs more."

"Cinder…"

"You know, Kai, It's not just to save your own life that you need the Bio." Kai's face fell. Cinder knew that unfair. He would care more about how to help his people. But even as she realized that he was just trying to honestly consider his options, Cinder could not help but let the hurt she felt seep into her tone.

"I understand you're trying to be the best ruler you can to your people. Admirable. But you will make one lousy ruler when you are _dead_," She said bluntly. "Appeasement was probably the best option under your circumstances a month ago. But you have another option now, Kai. You have me. You can choose the Lunar Resistance."

* * *

Torin had not been impressed at her descriptions of the Resistance. He refused to be moved by what she, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorn, Cress and Dr. Erland were accomplishing or to show any sign that he thought Kai should get involved, even though Kai seemed to catch at the idea. His complete immovability left Cinder a bit miffed.

"How long have you worked for the royal family, Torin?" she asked him now.

"About 23 years."

Since before Kai had been born, Cinder thought. Since when the Eastern Commonwealth was still one of the most prosperous nations on Earth. Since before the plague started and before Levana set her sights on Torin's country and his king. "You've known Kai all his life, then. You knew his mother."

"A lovely woman. There is much of her in the Emperor's face. And yes, I have known him since birth."

"Then why are you so hard on Kai?" she demanded, working hard not to sound whiney, "so quick to dismiss his ideas or to speak for him? You do realize he's only 18, right? That he just lost all his family? Couldn't you be… more supportive?"

Torin looked up at her, apology in his face. "I do support Emperor Kaito. But he needs many types of support, and I cannot fill them all. It is not an advisor's place to be a friend. I play the role that I think will best help him and the Commonwealth. But I know that he is hurting. It pains me to see it."

"But why not give him a break now and then? Even at his _coronation ball_, you were almost cruel."

Torin sighed. "Sometimes I am a little hard on him. I watched him grow up a happy child as I served his father. I was fond of him, because I loved his parent as my own family. Emperor Rikan and Empress Xin Li, may they rest, were great rulers, and the closest thing to family I had after the plague took my wife and children in the early days. Perhaps it is from the feeling that I let Rikan and Xin Li down, that I failed to advise them well enough, that I am hard on their son. I will not make the same mistake twice. I will not let an emotional attachment sway me from helping the Emperor to make the right choices for himself and the Commonwealth. But then, perhaps I have already failed." He fingered the communication chip that had allowed Levana to spy into the inner workings of New Beijing's palace. "I failed to consider the very real possibility that Kaito was right, and that the Lunar Queen had infiltrated further than I thought. I failed to anticipate how Levana would try to use Kaito, take advantage of his youth. And now my emperor prepares to marry a murderous tyrant."

He looked down, and for the first time Cinder could sense the enormous effort it took to keep his face composed. She felt empathy for Torin in that moment, because she was responsible, too. If she had not escaped, perhaps Kai would not be marrying Levana today.

That knowledge had made her more determined as she worked to convince Kai of what she said.

* * *

Kai had looked at her solemnly. "I want to believe you, Cinder. Truly," he held up a hand to stop her interruption. "But you know that given the circumstances, it would be irresponsible of me to simply take you at your word. However, I _will_ try to understand, to reach the truth, if I can."

Cinder held his gaze. He faced her across the room, his hands behind his back, his posture guarded but open. She nodded slowly, and began relating the history of what she still had trouble thinking of as her life. Kai flinched when she showed him the pictures on her netscreen that she and Thorn had found of the burned and scarred 3-year-old she had been. His mouth opened in horror as he read Wolf's brief description of Lunar army. His eyes glinted, wanting to hope, as Cinder described how they had broken Cress out of her satellite, how Wolf's pack had joined their cause, how the resistance had 3 bases now on Earth and even one on Luna, how the bases were supplying cheap Bios and that supporters of the Resistance on Luna, and – Kai was a little shocked at this – even some on Earth were ready to actively oppose Levana.

"But we can't do this as an underground movement with no power. Levana still controls a huge army. And even without attacking her, we need transportation, supplies—"

Dr. Hamdi and Dr. Erland had burst through the doors then. Dr. Hamdi bowed excitedly to Kai and said, "It is real. It is magnificent—Your Highness, Torin Shifu, I have never seen the like of this device." Her face shone with excitement. "It will work, I am sure. This—" she swung her hands around eagerly "—_this_ could be the key to success, to defeating Her Majesty the Lunar Queen." Cinder found the combination of respect and malice towards Levana in Dr. Hamdi's voice grimly amusing.

"Fateen," Kai said, "Do we have enough time? Maybe this should wait until after the wedding. It won't do me any good to think for myself if I am too woozy to walk straight…"

"Do not worry, Your Highness," Dr. Erland stepped in, "I have practiced for this very moment! We will have you in and out in 20 minutes, local anesthetic, you won't feel a thing. And after about half an hour, you should be just fine in the head." He patted his own head.

"Giving me 55 minutes to go get ready to marry Levana."

"Which is perfect timing, don't you think?" Erland was unruffled. "It's best that one does not have too much time to contemplate the alternatives to such things."

Kai laughed, though there may have been a note of hysteria in it. He looked at Cinder, swallowing. His eyes were wide and wondering, but determined. Though there was uncertainty there, she was grateful to see that the distrust was gone when he looked at her now. He fixed his gaze on her, making her heart pound with hope and relief and maybe a little something more, as he said to Dr. Erland, "Ok. I'm ready." He and the two doctors had walked through the double doors into the laboratory.


	4. Post Op

And Cinder paced, not knowing what else to do with herself and with no relief from the completely ridiculous butterflies that filled her stomach. It wasn't like she had never had a friend go through this before. She had actually _watched_ Thorn's operation, and this one would be much simpler thanks to Cress's updates.

The doors swung back open. Dr. Erland came through.

Cinder snapped her head up. "How is he?"

"Doing magnificently. Talking with Fateen. But he should not stand up for a few minutes or his stitches will start bleeding." He turned to Torrin. "You think you will be able to get him back upstairs and down the aisle?"

Torin did not smile. "I will handle it." He said.

"Good. I have explained to him that he must be careful around Levana nonetheless. It will become apparent at some point that she cannot control his mind any longer, and I suggest he put that off as long as—hey! It is not sterile in there!"

Cinder ducked around the doctor and headed into the room that held Kai and Dr. Hamdi. Kai sat up when he saw her, his sheet slipping down his bare chest. Dr. Hamdi pushed his shoulder back down, saying, "You must relax, Your Highness."

"So, does it work?" Cinder asked. Kai looked at her quizzically.

"Um, I don't know." His eyebrows pushed together.

Cinder chuckled. "What do you see?" She asked, gesturing to herself.

"…You?" Kai's eyes still looked puzzled, before they brightened in understanding.

"And you, Dr. Hamdi? What do you see?" Cinder asked her.

"I believe I am seeing your glamour, Majesty." Dr. Hamdi shifted a bit uncomfortably. "You are the _image_ of Queen Channery."

Cinder straightened, a bit unsettled by the last comment.

Kai broke the brief silence. "Can you give us a moment please, Fateen?"

She hesitated. "Of course, Your Highness." She retreated a few steps before timidly saying, "Um, Your Highness, may I, perhaps, say something before I leave?"

Kai nodded, curious.

"It's just… I have spoken with your advisor… I agree with Torin Daren—I think perhaps it is unwise to encourage a—a romantic liaison between you two. Forgive me," she spoke hurriedly and kept her head down, "but given the importance of your positions… I…" The young doctor looked mortified.

"Thank you, Fateen." Kai's voice was firm with a note of dismissal, though not unkind. Dr. Hamdi backed out of the room quickly, her eyes on the floor. Kai and Cinder continued to look after her even as she left, not meeting each other's eyes.

Kai let out frustrated breath and threw his arms in the air. "The people in my palace see me as a child."

"Not a child—" Cinder started sympathetically.

"As if either of us is unaware of what we are doing! As if we would throw away progress made or forget our duties. But aren't we _people_ as well as agents of the state?" He huffed and ran both hands through his hair. "Where does Torin even get the idea that we're in love?"

He looked at her for a beat, and the word hung in the air between them. Then Kai hurried forward, "Well, I guess you did kind of announce it to half the city, but still… _most_ of what I said to Levana were lies to control the situation… Aargghh he _has_ to start seeing that I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Torin means well," Cinder said, voice gentle. "He cares about you a great deal."

Kai met her eyes again. "Oh I know. He's always been more attached than he lets on." He flapped his hand at her, and Cinder cocked her head, a little amused by his uncontrolled gestures. "He loved my mother, you know. At least I think he did." Cinder's eye widened. She was fairly sure Kai would not be saying this without the lingering effects of anesthesia. "But then, he cared for my father too. And I think his sense of duty was too great to ever overstep himself."

"I think he's afraid for you, Kai." Cinder drawing him from his thoughts.

Kai looked over at Cinder again, half a grin on his face. "Afraid of you?" He laughed.

Cinder cocked an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Well, I am slightly terrifying." Kai scoffed. "I am a mind-controlling, technologically-advanced machine, lost princess _to,_ and most powerful member _of_ the strongest kingdom in the solar system. Are you _not_ afraid?"

Kai narrowed his eyes at her. "You're not a machine." He listed his head. "I guess you _are_ a little scary," he allowed, "although I would have given different reasons…" Cinder grinned and he continued, "You have this way of blurring my judgment, somehow. Of making me feel vaguely like the ground under my feet isn't safe." He spoke matter-of-factly and regarded her appraisingly.

Cinder cleared her throat. "Kai, I actually just wanted the chance to explain, to apologize. I know I already told you why I acted the way I did, but I really am sorry that you felt… manipulated. I swear, I _swear_ I never used my gift on you. You've only even seen my glamour twice, judging from your reactions. You obviously did the night of the coronation and then that one time in the elevator I think you must have."

Cinder rubbed her wrist thoughtfully. "But even though I wasn't using my gift on you, I should have told you the truth. It's just… I really didn't want to. You were one of the first people not to treat me like I was… _untouchable._" Cinder shook her head. "One of the first friends I'd ever had, outside my stepfamily. I didn't want to see you look at me like, well, like you did once you found out what I was. But maybe you wouldn't have looked that way if I had told you before. I'm sorry." She twisted her mouth ruefully and looked at the floor.

Kai frowned. "Hey," he reached out to tilt her chin back up, "_I'm_ sorry I reacted that way. You shocked me." He thought for a moment. "It makes sense now why you kept refusing to come with me to the ball," He laughed, "And you've got to admit that I do have reason to bit a wary of Lunars. But all the same, I'm sorry I treated you that way. That I essentially handed you over to Levana. I can't tell you how many nights I've spent trying to figure out if I did the right thing."

Cinder breathed in and out. He seemed sincere. Her life had changed more in the last two months than she could have ever imagined. She had used the Lunar gift. Every kingdom on Earth and Luna was looking for her. She was responsible – indirectly – for the death of an another person. The emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth spent his nights awake, thinking of her. And yet what meant most to her was to have that same old insecurity soothed. He still liked her. Accepted her. Despite everything—her cyborg limbs, her Lunar gift, her greasy baggy clothes, her shocking new identity—Kai sat looking at her, a pucker on his brow, worried that he may have hurt her feelings, waiting for her to smile at him. She did, and after a moment he flashed her the same grin that had first captured her attention.

"Ok, my young monarchs, it is time to fly," Dr. Erland poked his head through the doors. "Miss Linh, I have contacted the ship, and they will be landing momentarily in the same garden where they dropped you earlier. Remus will help Iko enter undetected, though, with all the rich Lunars arriving to watch the matrimonial excitement, I do not know that his efforts are necessary."

"All right." Cinder turned back to Kai. "Will you consider helping the Resistance, then?" She hated to beg him like this, but her voice rose hopefully at the end of her question. She rushed on, "If you can even think of it, I will be in touch later. I don't know how, yet, but, I will. Um. If not, then… then I—that is, the Resistance will not endanger you again by contacting you. I…I would wish you luck and… hope that I have at least helped you—"

"Stars, yes, ok, Cinder." Kai couldn't keep the laughter out of his voice as he interrupted her. "I will consider it. I'll do more than that. I want to help—and you're right; I have, or _will_ have, a somewhat unique position in terms of finding Levana's weaknesses. Besides, if it's the only way I get to talk to you…" He teased. "Yes. I can't promise what I can do, but I can certainly hear what you have to say. Just be careful," his tone was serious now, "this will be dangerous."

"Of course." Cinder smiled, feeling a million times lighter than when she had touched down on the palace roof, "And you, too. In the meantime, you _have_ to convince Levana that you are worth keeping around. Convince her that she needs you. Do whatever you have to, because your life is the most important thing right now. Cress suggested actually trying to think of how you can help her... I don't know. But you have to figure something out. Okay?"

Kai nodded, but his face was drawn in uncertainty.

Dr. Erland was talking to Torin. "He should not be moved for another 15 minutes. And make certain he keeps his collar high enough to hide the scars for some time."

"Of course."

Cinder cast Kai a parting glance and then let herself be tugged along by Dr. Erland, thanking Dr. Hamdi and Torin on the way out. They made their way back through the crowds still bustling through the palace, glamoured as servants once more. Iko was already waiting for them when they reached the rooftop garden. Wolf was there to usher them onto the Rampion. They passed Remus and Azure on their way in, two Lunars who had joined the Resistance early and were powerful enough to help Cinder hide Iko in their travels. Cinder nodded to them. They came into the main hatch to find Scarlet and Cress pouring over a map of the Northwestern Lunar Quadrant, Thorn at the ship's controls. He left his seat and walked over to the tall table in the middle of the room as Dr. Erland, Wolf, and Cinder came up to it.

"Well?" Scarlet placed a hand on one hip.

"Mission accomplished," Cinder sighed with a tired smile.

"Like making your hand into pie," chimed in Dr. Erland, "Is that the saying?"

Cress rolled her eyes. "It's 'easy as pie,' Dad. Or 'like turning your hand over.' You're mixing up Eastern and Western Earthen sayings."

Dr. Erland chuckled good naturedly. "Well, the point is that the Emperor will have a clear mind, and I do believe he will need it, as he has agreed to help us."

"He has?" Cress stretched up on her toes excitedly.

"Of course, he has," said Thorne, his voice turning cutesy like he was talking to a puppy, "How could he resist this face?" He pinched Cinder's cheek. She slapped his hand away.

"Emperor Kai has agreed to _talk_ to us, but he hasn't guaranteed that he can do anything yet. I wasn't able to tell him exactly what we need or to figure out what he has to give that would help us. We were a bit pressed for time."

"Well, good job for the time being." Scarlet praised Cinder and Dr. Erland. "Let's find a way to get reliable communication with him," she nodded at Cress. "This is good news."

Cinder nodded. She looked down out of the Rampion's wide windows as Ne Beijing dropped away from them. The palace was set gloriously overlooking the city. Her stomach clenched as her eyes encountered the public alter in the People's Square, at knowing what awaited Kai there. She hoped that they would find a way back to him soon.


	5. The Wedding Gift

Kai stood straight, his jaw flexed as he waited at the altar. He thought, ironically, that all in all he was in quite a good mood. Deeply resigned was about as much as he had hoped for, after all. He felt almost detached-the traditional trappings of ceremony seemed surreal amidst the horrible reality of his situation. There should not have been a sickness – an _avoidable_ sickness, at that—rampaging through his country. The city should have been wealthy enough to celebrate for several days, to fill every person's belly with food and laughter. As it was, Kai was embarrassed by the display that Levana had insisted on; his citizens struggled to get by while he threw an extravagant party. It should have been another girl preparing to walk down the aisle towards him, making his heart swell rather than curdle and die. His parents should have been sitting behind him to his left, beaming and happy. His heart felt heavy. But Kai did not really have control anymore—that was his agreement to Levana. Her prize was the Commonwealth.

Until Cinder showed up. Kai wondered if she had any idea of the effect she had on people. Again, she had flamed through his life, ever so briefly, and yet had changed the way everything looked. Suddenly he had hope again. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not. He wasn't sure if it would make a difference—surely Levana could find more traditional ways to kill him than forcing him to commit suicide. Kai shuddered slightly.

The music had started. He did not look towards the end of the aisle, but stayed facing the priest in front of him. He had requested a traditional ceremony. There would be no kissing, no emotional displays or affection in this wedding. Merely duty. Cold and unyielding. Kai set his jaw. He felt Levana draw level with him, and a deep silence fell over the square. At the priest's direction, he began kowtowing to the East.

* * *

The bright music blared, and the air seemed to be filled with a constant stream of confetti. Kai spun in endless circles of celebrators, Earthen and Lunar, until he felt dizzy. He had no doubt that Levana and her Thaumaturges were controlling the mood of his citizens. Many of them had probably come to protest. It was hard for Kai not to wrap himself in the utter despair her felt and lose track of it all. But he had a country of people to protect still, and they needed him now perhaps more than ever. And just maybe there was a way he could free them of this tyrant he had invited into their lives. He had been thinking on Cinder's words…

"It was woven by my mother herself, Your Majesty."

"What? Sorry…" Kai snapped his attention back to the girl who danced in his arms. It was the second day of celebrations. Guests were invited now to present the newly-wed couple with gifts, and to dance with either the Emperor or Empress. His security had decided to limit the gift-givers to 100, 50 each for Levana and himself. This was partially because they had to thoroughly clear each gift and person, and partially because it was difficult to find 50 men willing to present Levana with a gift and dance with her. She had spoken to Kai of how Earthens would come to love her as Lunars did, but it alarmed Kai how much even her own subjects seemed to despise her. It would have unnerved him to be such a hated ruler, everything else besides. Perhaps this was her weakness, something Kai could even reasonably claim to help her with. He had the love of his people—at least, he hoped he still did…

The girl reached up and tied the silk scarf she had been waving around Kai's neck. "Thank you for the dance, and congratulations, Your Majesty."

His guard ushered forward the next girl in line. Kai met her hand and they stepped into a slow waltz that allowed them to talk. Levana waltzed with a young man about 10 meters away through the crowd. "Your 'Ighness." The girl spoke in a thick French accent, dipping gracefully into a curtsy without breaking the dance. Kai took her in. She was tall and beautiful, with long blond hair and a full figure.

"Good evening," Kai said automatically. "Thank you for coming to the ceremony. I hope you have been enjoying the celebrations?"

"Oh, oui, very much, 'Ighness."

Kai dropped out of his script, curious. "Are you a citizen of the Commonwealth?" He asked.

"No, Majestie, no. I come from Europe."

"Wow. And you came all this way just to give me a wedding gift?"

The girl laughed. "But of course! I juste 'ad to come to your wedding. All ze drama, all ze intrigue! And, well, you see, zere was simply no_ resistance_." Her voice was still light, but her eyes flashed and there was the slightest extra emphasis on the last word. Kai blinked at her, unsure if he was supposed to pick up on the hint or if he was being paranoid.

"What is your name?"

"Émilie, 'Ighness." Not the Scarlet that Cinder had spoken of, then.

"And what is your gift, Émilie?"

"This." She held up a plain pewter ring. She drew his arm from her back and slipped the gray circle around the first finger of his right hand. Kai was a bit taken aback by the simplicity of the gift. "You see?" Émilie laughed again. "Now you are like me!" She fluttered her fingers, covered in rings, in front of his eyes.

Kai felt like he was somehow missing something. "It is lovely. Thank you."

"Yes, yes. You know, zey are fun, of course, to wear in public, but I find zat even juste in my own company, zey are like little friends." She looked down at her rings again and smiled while Kai tried not to look as though he was puzzled by the girl's strange assertions. "Zank you so much for ze dance, Your 'Ighness, and for all you 'ave promised. We all know you will do great zings." Kai knit his eyebrows. He did not think anyone expected _great things_ from him anymore. "Ah, and, err, felicitations on your marriage." The girl's expression contradicted her tone again. Her eyes were pitying. "And remember, "Ighness," she tapped her rings again as she stepped away from him, "You are not alone."

She faded into the crowd, and Kai's guard sent another girl spinning into his arms.

* * *

The next day, alone in his office, Kai fingered the many gifts he had been given, both touched at his citizens' support and sickened at what the gifts represented. He had an empress. Thankfully she had not pressed any of the awkwardness of sharing chambers, and he was alone in the royal wings, save the guards that paced the hallways. He was able to hear his own thoughts for the first time in three days.

Kai looked down at his fingers. He had received several different rings as gifts, but he slipped them all off now except the gray one from the French girl. He studied it, as he heard the guard outside finish his round of the royal wing and head back out the doors. As soon as the distant click sounded, shutting Kai alone in the large and empty royal rooms, text scrolled across the thin surface of the ring. Kai jumped and took it off. The ring returned to normal immediately. Cautiously, he slipped it back onto his finger. Again, it was as though the ring was a screen, but he could not tell until words appeared on it.

HELLO

Kai stared. "Hello?" He whispered to his finger, feeling foolish.

HELLO

He had never seen something like this before. Who had that girl been? Part of the Lunar Resistance, as Kai had thought? Was this ring dangerous? "What are you?"

I AM ρ

"Rho," Kai murmured. He held twisted his hand at different angles, but the image of the letters did not change. "Are you an android?"

YES

The words wiped themselves clear before more text scrolled across the small screen.

KAITO?

Kai wanted to laugh out loud. The girl had given him a robot, not a ring at all. _You are not alone_ indeed. And it _knew_ him.

"Yes." He replied to ρ's question. He wondered how Émilie had managed to slip the ring past his guards, who had known for a week who would dance with him and what they would give. But then, she probably had a little extra-Earthen help. He supposed he did too, though.

FRIEND

"I hope so." Kai smiled. He still kept his voice barely above a breath. "What is your function?"

D-COMM

Kai was impressed. So this was Cinder's method of communication, he was sure of it. _There was no Resistance._ Well, there was now.

The doors clicked distantly again, indicating that another guard was walking past Kai's rooms now. ρ, in the middle of scrolling some new letters, immediately went blank. A clever little machine, Kai thought. And Levana could have no objection about his wearing gifts from his people. He smiled to himself. Maybe de-throning Levana was possible. "Glad to have you here, Rho."


	6. Politics

The door to his office swung open, and the guard walked in.

"Your Majesty," he said, squeezing his hands together, "Empress Levana requests an audience."

"Of course. Send her in. Thank you." Kai straightened at his desk, quickly slipping ρ back on, and then two more rings so as not to call Levana's attention to the one ring. His fingers strange with the unfamiliar weight. Kai took deep breaths, trying to collect himself. He had been rehearsing what to say to Levana, and was a little proud of the reasoning that he had decided to give her. He slipped the dirty cyborg foot from his desk into a drawer right before Levana entered.

"My dear husband." Levana purred upon entering. Kai braced himself, stifling the air he had been about to suck in. He had forgotten that this was the first time he would see Levana-truly see her without the glamour. She had had her red veil throughout the wedding festivities-a traditional custom. If it had not been for her clothing and that the guard had just announced her, Kai would not have recognized her. She was older, thought not as old as he had expected- maybe twice his age. Her skin was swarthier than her glamour appeared, and Kai wondered if this was due to the lack of atmosphere on the moon. But what was truly striking was the disfiguration on the right side of her face. Had she been burned? Kai's mind raced through these thoughts as he fought to keep his expression smooth. He would need to play his part perfectly for this. He stood and nodded politely to her.

"Your Majesty."

"As per our agreement, all Lunar soldiers have now been evacuated from Earthen soil. I thought I would come give you the news myself." Her voice, strange with her new appearance, was girlish and playful, as though she had just bestowed a charming little gift upon Kai. As though her soldiers hadn't murdered tens of thousands of people in cold blood.

"However," she continued, "I have not removed them from the Earthen atmosphere yet. I will be stationing them there to continue the search for the cyborg fugitive."

Kai sighed. "I've been wanting to have a word with you about that. Please, Levana, sit down." He sat in his own chair, spinning it to look out his window for a moment before facing her. He had never called her by her name before, and he did not like the way it felt slipping off his tongue. She arched an eyebrow at him. "I think," he said when she merely placed her hands on her hips, "that as your _husband,_ I at least merit a moment of your attention."

She narrowed her eyes a little, but sat herself delicately on the edge of a chair, facing him across his large desk.

"I may not know your exact intentions for the Commonwealth, but I think we can both agree that as one of its rulers, you cannot be seen to be terrorizing the rest of the Earthen nations. It is not prudent to keep your men stationed around Earth, even if they are not on the planet. If you need added security for the search, recruit from among my – _our—_" Kai forced the word out "—people. The world still does not accept Lunars and it—"

"Do you not remember our bargain, young Emperor?" Levana's voice was syrupy with an edge of steel. "You have no part in the method of my rule. And as to my men, I have removed them from Earthen soil. And unless—"

"You are my Empress. That does not mean you will usurp me entirely—"

"You think to press your politics upon me?" She glowered now.

Kai blew out a mouthful of air, swallowing his frustration, his fury, his disgust. "No. I would not presume to have the power to. I am not a fool, Levana. I imagine you planned to not only push me aside, but dispose of me once you got what you wanted. But I think that it is in your best interest not to do so."

"Oh?" She said, her voice low and dangerous.

In his mind's eye he saw Levana brainwashing the protesters outside his palace.

"Yes."

He saw Levana, forcing a gun to Cinder's head.

"And why is that?"

Levana, watching his father die from her netscreen, withholding the serum that would have saved him. How could he help such a woman?

"I can help you."

Levana, telling Sibyl to blind an innocent servant. Mutating the DNA of her subjects. Lighting fire to the house of her own sister and niece. Kai shut his eyes against his imaginings. For his country. For his people. Kai unfolded his hands and put them both flat on the desk before her.

"You want to rule. Fine. I am done fighting you. Perhaps you are not the worst thing that could havre happened to the commonwealth."

He paused, studying her with carefully affected consideration. She sat back in her chair, at least listening now.

"You flatter me, husband." Her sarcasm sliced at the air.

"You must remember that Luna is a nation of several million. The Commonwealth is a nation of several _billion_, and it is much harder to keep as strong a hold over so many. I believe even you would begin to have difficulty controlling masses of people at some point."

"You overstep yourself, Emperor. Besides, there is no need for your concern." She smiled evilly at him. "Several billion people cannot all show up at once to kill me. I need control no more than I usually do."

"Keeping them from killing you and remaining in power are two different things. You do need to control more than usual, even if it is through your thaumaturges. Do you have enough Lunars who have both the power and loyalty necessary to help you control this nation? I think not. You must learn to rule in another way. You say that—"

"You speak with remarkable assurance for a child who still has spots on his nose. Tell me, _boy_, what makes you think that you know better than I what it is to rule _billions_? That you could do it better?"

"Oh, I have no doubt that you are capable. But Levana, I will protect those billions if I can. And I think that by working together, both of our interests can be better served. You say that as a ruler you are loved. I claim that that is not the case." He kept talking through her interruption. "You may control people like a puppet master when they get near you, but they don't love you. And for this reason you have to rule in fear. All of your citizens – or most of them – will constantly be trying to oppose you. But if you are truly admired as your people's leader, you'll have more security in your rule. That is how I can help you." Kai swallowed back the bile in his throat, thinking how he disgraced his father and their entire line by begging like a puppy to this dictator. "Levana, I _have_ the Commonwealth's support. The people love me simply for having been their prince my whole life, and with the exception of taking you as an Empress, I have not yet had the opportunity to turn that advantage against me. With my assistance, the people of the Commonwealth can come to accept you. You will have power—I will not interfere with that. But if you would let me _advise_ you, it would be better for everyone."

Levana was silent. Her expression was distrustful, but considering. She studied him.

"Isn't that what you want, Levana? Power? Or is there some other motivation behind your takeover of the Commonwealth. I will help you, but I must know first, why is it that you rule? What is it that you desire?"

This question seemed to catch her off-guard. She did not give an answer for a few minutes. Kai was silent. His speech was done, but he did not relax.

"Why are you offering this counsel?" Levana tilted her head at him.

"Because I am not done protecting my people however I can." Kai wasn't even lying when he said it. "That will not be done by opposing you. But I am still the Emperor of the Commonwealth, and it is still my responsibility to see to the interests of my country. This—" he gestured "—is simply politics. I learned as much from you."

Levana smiled, her thin lips parting wide over her teeth. The expression stretched her skin in odd ways, making her look sickly. "You are surprising Kaito. But I see the wisdom in what you say. We will speak later on the subject. Very well. I will not kill you. Now."

Kai let out his breath.

Levana stood. Her hips swaying as she sauntered to the window. The crowds were busy moving around the big square far below the palace, shopping, selling, baking, hammering, shining, bargaining, talking, laughing, breathing. The city was a living organism. Levana surveyed it with a predatorial eye.

"Besides," she said, "There _is_ actually something that I need from you at the moment anyway."

"Really?" Kai was apprehensive. "What is that?"

Levana stared out the window a moment longer before turning to him, her eyes glinting.

"An heir."


	7. The Raid

**The feedback is much appreciated! In this story, I have decided that gravity in the future is controlled in space through individual "gravity belts," rather than through ship-wide gravity fields. Maybe this would be more cost efficient in the future, or something. Mostly it just makes for some cool flippy matrix fight scenes. Also this type of chapter is not my forte, so let me know what you think! Suggestions for improvement on how to make action scenes exciting/ useful to the story are welcome.**

"Report." Thorne's voice sounded from the D-COMM chip in the watch on Cinder's wrist. He had said the same one minute ago. There was nothing new to report. Cinder thought he just liked saying it.

"Thorne, you idiot! Shut up! I'm kind of in the middle of something." Cinder ran at a crouch, trying to convince her feet to be light, nimble, silent against the hard metal floor. A long narrow corridor stretched ahead of her. Every nook and cranny of extra space was used on this station, and the hallway was hazardous, with wires and equipment poking out from shelves and cabinets which appeared unexpectedly in the white walls as Cinder ran past. This space station was _huge_.

"I know!" Thorne said jovially. "And as your commander on your first mission, I am proud to say you are doing splendidly. Scarlet should be on your left."

A hallway cutting perpendicularly through hers opened up ahead of Cinder, and she glanced to the left as she ran through the intersection. Scarlet flashed her a grin from her parallel hallway 5 meters down. A minute later Cinder heard a low shriek and then a muffled thud.

"You all right?" She gasped into her watch.

"No sweat." Cinder turned a corner and ran to look down Scarlet's hallway. She had caught one of the wolf-men off-guard, and he was now lying with a tranquilizer dart buried in his neck. They had gotten ahold of some powerful tranquilizers that would take out Levana's mutant soldiers. That one would be down for a few hours at least.

"Nice shot."

Scarlet smiled. They kept jogging towards the eastern side of the ship.

"Guys," Thorne's voice echoed excitedly from both of their wrists. "The ship in the northern hanger is _amazing_. Solar panels to recharge the power cell, torpedo and missile launchers, reversible gravitational accelerators—those things can actually use the rotational force from orbit—" Scarlet, breathing heavily, mimicked Thorne's endless talking with her hand, her mouth forming the words _blah blah blah_. Cinder chuckled.

"Port side!" Wolf's voice sounded an alarm as he came running up a cross-ways corridor from the left, two mutant wolves on his heels, and Scarlet and Cinder tensed. These two were more wolf-like than the one Scarlet had just taken down. Scarlet adjusted the dial on her gravity belt and leapt into the air. Cinder followed suit. Scartlet's momentum carried her to the ceiling where she aimed herself at the wolves as Wolf ran by. She launched herself at the first mutant, catching him by the fur on his back and being pulled along as his greater mass dragged her forward through the air. The wolfman turned his head around, snapping his jaws at Scarlet and clawing at her with stunted arms that could not twist back all the way. She caught him in the neck with a blade that protruded from her watch, and he sank to the ground. Scarlet leapt clear of his still angrily scratching hands.

Cinder, meanwhile had taken a shot with a tranquilizer dart at the second mutant as he was running. She had missed his neck, the point with the quickest and greatest impact, and gotten his hind quarters. His right back leg now seemed to be falling asleep as he clawed and jumped desperately at Cinder, who held to a vent on the ceiling. One leap brought him too close, and cinder kicked out with her metal leg, catching him in his open mouth. The force behind her heavy limb knocked the mutant so that he landed on his back. He cried out, an eerily human sound, and struggled to shake himself off. The tranquilizer was starting to take effect now though, and he stumbled a bit, growling. Wolf smashed him on the side of his face, and the wolfman fell into the wall, unconscious. Cinder pushed herself down from the ceiling.

Scarlet laughed as she took in the figure, unconscious on the ground. "Got him right in the ass, didn't you Cinder?" She looked over at her. "Ah well. My grandmother always said that men think with that more than their heads anyway, so not a bad shot, really." Cinder scratched at her wrist and grinned embarrassedly.

"We've got to conserve these more," Wolf said, pulling out the emptied tranquilizer dart, "If we want to make it out of here alive. How many do you have left?"

"Three, between the two of us." Cinder said. She felt slightly sheepish. Scarlet and Wolf were both much better at this type of mission than she was. But then, this was her first actual time to come with them. Scarlet and Wolf, along with members of Wolf's pack, had started raiding the ships of Levana's soldiers three weeks ago. In this way, they got supplies, ships, and impeded Levana's efforts against Earth. It made Cinder uneasey. She was a bit afraid that this gave Levana a way to track their movements, nor did she like the idea of killing men who were unwilling pawns in Levana's game. But she knew this was a war that would not be without cost. In the Resistance, they paid with the lives of some for the freedom and safety of billions of others. It sickened her. She scowled at Wolf, wanting to argue. But they had been through it before. They steered clear of killing when possible, but the thing was, it wasn't, always. Cinder looked away from the mutated man lying by Scarlet's feet.

Wolf had suggested that a random pattern to their raids would provoke Levana and draw her attention away from the Earth itself, where the resistance moved most of its supplies by train. The ease and success of their maneuvers grew as Cinder's ability to hide Iko increased and especially once they gained the help of Remus, who had long shepherded ships escaping from Luna to Earth. Sometimes they gained information from overheard conversations on these enemy ships. Twice they had been able to take out a thaumaturge—the true source of the spread of Levana's power. This was the first time they had come to a space station. Cinder was brought to subdue the greater number of guards that the spacecraft would have and to get the guards to let them through certain locked doors. Expediency here would get them out alive. Though the small bombs they had planted at the rear of the ship wouldn't sink it immediately, they certainly didn't want to be left inside when it went off. This mission would severely hinder several of Levana's thaumaturges, as the other ships and soldiers in the area were called in to evacuate the large space station. It would also halt Levana's activities over Northern Europe for some time. Now they just had to make it out.

"Nice one." Thorne's voice again. "Ok, if you guys round the corner up ahead, and go through the third door on the right, Hangar 4A. The two ships we want are the closest to the entrance, a little ESSEX5 and a Delta C 6000. Scarlet you take the ESSEX and Wolf and Cinder will go in the Delta. Cinder, there are 3 guards outside the hangar—heavily mutated. Inside there are 5 mostly-human mutants and 2 people working on the ships. Got it?"

"Yep."

Wolf led them forward. They rounded the corner.

The band on Cinder's watch grew warm suddenly, and she looked down. KAITO scrawled across the screen on her watch. Cinder's eyebrows rose. Scarlet glanced at Cinder's watch too.

"Did Prince Charming figure out how to use his ring?"

"Guess so." Cinder said. She hesitated, but then pressed a button to dismiss the call. "Unfortunately he'll have to wait."

Thorne's voice came. "Cinder, once you're in, wait 5 minutes and Cress will shut down power to that room. You'll have one minute to get on board the ships and then Cress will power it all back up and open the doors for you. You'll have to make it out quickly."

"Roger."

"And make sure this thing does not make noise and give you away. No phone calls from your—!" Cinder silenced him as requested. Scarlet and Wolf did the same.

A little way ahead of them, half hidden by an opening in the wall and all the ship apparatus between them, they could see three wolves guarding the door. Cinder reached for their minds. She was getting better at glamouring people. Even controlling Wolf and his pack she was getting the hang of. Mutants became much more difficult, though, based on much they had been mutated. These three were very wolf-like. Two of them walked on all fours. One stood with his shoulders hunched, as though he were incredibly uncomfortable. He lifted his nose in the air.

Cinder stepped forward cautiously. _I am your Queen. Your true Queen. I am your leader. _She repeated the phrases over and over inside her head, her eyes fixed on the wolves as she moved forward. Scarlet and Wolf did not move. The three wolves faced her. One of the wolves on all fours sat, cocking his ears at Cinder. The standing one merely looked at her. The second one on the ground shook himself and slunk forward, the fur on his neck standing on end. Cinder beat down her apprehension, trying to focus. _I AM YOUR QUEEN_! She thought at the wolf. He growled low, and then the other wolves were behind him, menacing. Cinder steeled herself, her heart pounding. In one motion the wolves stalked forward. Suddenly Wolf was beside her and one of Scarlet's darts was buried in the standing mutant's neck. The first mutant on all fours started to lunge for Wolf. Suddenly the mutant was knocked off his course by the second wolfman. Cinder blinked. She held her hand out to Wolf to stop him from going forward. Both mutants rounded on Cinder with startling speed again and she sucked in a breath when they suddenly ducked low, groveling before her.

Cinder breathed out. She reached forward and absently stroked one creature's head, considering Levana's frightening soldiers. Their very human eyes unnerved her. She wondered if these mutants were able to talk at all. Wolf relaxed beside her, though he watched with distaste as Cinder knelt in front of the mutant. He whined slightly when she met his liquid eyes, and hers widened. No matter how frightening and grotesque Levana forced her soldiers, her people—in fact, _Cinder's_ people—to become, she would always be more monstrous for doing this to them.

She had the wolf in front of her rise to his hind feet and lead her, Wolf, and Scarlet back towards the door to the hangar. He placed a hand – paw? – over a scanner and it read his ID chip. Then he stood back to let them pass as the door clicked open.

They were greeted with the loud screech of power tools. No one noticed them enter. The opening and closing _whoosh_ of the doors could not be heard over the noise of the hangar. The mutants were working to repair the several ships that were inside. In a corner Cinder noticed the two people—officials—having an unheard conversation. She motioned to Scarlet and Wolf to remain unseen as long as possible. They ducked behind a pile of boxes, and Cinder set 5 minutes on her watch. While they wait she adjusted her hearing, fine tuning it until she could zero in on the conversation of the two officials. She projected the sound just enough so that Wolf and Scarlet could hear.

"Hardly," one of the men was saying. "She has never come out before, to my knowledge. That Her Majesty would send her to us now is a sign of how badly she wants this fugitive captured."

"If she is the princess, why does she not come out?"

"Rumor has it that Levana hates Princess Winter. That she is jealous of her beauty."

Scarlet's brow furrowed. "Levana has a daughter?" She whispered.

"Step-daughter." Wolf spoke. "That's well know. Less so are the rumors from the caverns where they train us… A pack of 7 that trained separately under the exclusive command of Princess Winter, who supposedly had a powerful gift. They were supposed to be an elite force, some experiment of Levana's to combine Lunar, wolf, and some other type of DNA. They were rumored to be only half human. I never believed any of it." He shook his head uncertainly.

"She must be exquisite, if the _Queen_ is jealous of her," the other man continued.

"And powerful, as well," said the first, "I saw her greet the Queen with her pack once. She has their loyalty utterly and absolutely. But I think she is defiant. One of her mutants actually growled at the Her Highness. She did not seem pleased with Winter."

"Well, maybe if she hates her so much, Her Majesty will not mind if I… take the Princess _off her hands_."

The other official laughed. "Perhaps if you capture the cyborg you'd get such a reward. Beyond that, I can't imagine Her Highness taking much interest in _you._ Nor do I think you would really want her to."

The other guard nodded fervently. "She's scary no doubt. But a reward like…" Cinder turned her hearing back to normal and stopped projecting, not wanting to hear more of the men's abuse.

"So Princess Winter is coming here? To this station?" Scarlet said.

"Not after our bomb goes off." Cinder said.

"And she's hunting you," Wolf added.

Cinder nodded. "That does seem to be the case."

"Why?" Scarlet asked. "If she's _family_ to Levana, she must know what an evil witch she is. She can't _want_ to help her."

Cinder tilted her head thoughtfully. "Maybe she's brainwashed," she suggested. "Or maybe she wants power too. Levana doesn't have another heir. She would probably come to the throne if Levana was killed now."

"Cinder, do you think we could get her on our side? Oh, la, think of it, one of Levana's own thaumaturges! And her _step-daughter_! Her little royal head would pop, she'd be so furious! And if she is as _gifted_ as she sounds, then she could help us."

"Maybe…" Cinder shook her head. "Are you ready? We have 30 seconds before Cress kills the power. Wolf, you see the ship we're headed for? Scarlet?"

"Yep. Beeline for it. No one's directly in the way. Should be a straight shot out of here."

"And…. 4… 3… 2…" The lights in the room went out abruptly. The power tools shut off. There was a thud as someone banged there head and a crash that echoed around the room as someone dropped a tool.

"What the…" "What's going on?" "Who is responsible for this?"

Voices filled the room. Cinder was grateful for the noise of the confusion as they dashed through to the ships. Even so, she added to the fog around the minds of everyone in the room. _Nothing makes sense. You can't tell what is happening._ Her retina display picked up on the light in the room before her human eyes could, and outlined the way for her. She made it to her ship and immediately punched the button to open the hatch. Wolf jumped in and went for the engine. A mutant working on a ship nearby tensed at the noise. He started in her direction. To her right, Cinder saw Scarlet bump into a mutant as she flew half blind and half weightless towards her ship. The wolf snarled and clawed at Scarlet's legs as she kicked at him. She floated in the air above him, reaching for the ceiling to escape his grasp, but her body had already started sinking languidly, mocking her efforts to swim through the air.

"Scarlet!" Cinder cried. They had to get in the ships before Cress opened the doors. Cinder felt the small shuttle that she was standing on shake as the wolf from the left landed on it. He swiped at her. She slammed her fist down on the button to close the ship's glass hatch and, twisting the dial on her gravity belt, launched herself away from the mutant and toward Scarlet. Cinder caught her around the middle and the two slammed into the much larger spaceship one spot over. Cinder pressed the button to open its hatch, using her metal hand to pry it open more quickly. She and Scarlet ducked inside. A wolf sat up from where he worked at the back of the 20 foot room. The lights in the hangar came back on. The power tools whirred and cut of their own accord, and the men and wolves left outside the ships swore and danced out of reach. The hangar doors began to open.

"Cinder, this is the wrong ship!" Scarlet cried.

"I know, just get it started!" Cinder began concentrating, focusing on their ship and Wolf's as he hesitated, waiting to make sure they were safe before he flew out. She would need to make sure they were not followed. Assuming they would make it out of the hangar to be followed. Scarlet looked wildly at the control panel. She sat down and began flicking switches, but nothing happened. The mutant in their ship came forward, and for a moment Cinder was sure they would never make it out when he pointed to the throttle by Scarlet's left hip.

"Oh!" Her eyes brightened, and the ship roared to life. Wolf's ship left the hangar, a mutant's body sucked away from the top of the little vehicle as the vacuum of space took him. Scarlet sped out of the hangar as the doors began to close, scraping their ship and denting the hangar doors a little on the way out. Cinder forced her breath in and out steadily. Scarlet steered the ship after Wolf's and they both went northeast a little ways before rounding back and heading to the south, traveling quickly. Distantly, Cinder saw ships drop out of the hangar and head in several different directions. Cinder smiled grimly, knowing that they would not be found. The thaumaturges would have done better to keep those ships to escape on themselves… A minute later she saw the fire and smoke erupt from one end of the massive station that was growing tiny.

The mutant looked curiously at Scarlet and Cinder, who had not spoken for the past few minutes.

"I think my Queen is looking for you," he said to Cinder. She laughed. Did all Lunars talk the same? "You're the Cyborg. The one who escaped from New Beijing. Aren't you supposed to be mad?"

That was new. "Aren't you supposed to have attacked us?" Cinder countered.

The wolf-man shrugged. He looked much like Wolf, still with human features and carrying himself upright, except for the fact that he was covered in dark grey fur. "We never really attack of our own accord. At least—I never have. Only when the Queen's minions force us to. And in the hangar they pretty much leave us alone to do repairs and the like. If they didn't, I doubt you would have gotten out of there."

Cinder looked away from him. "We're approaching the Rampion," she said, looking at the monitor that tracked Thorne's D-COMM chip in her watch. She turned back to the mutant.

"What was your name?"

"I'm Rhea."

"Well, Rhea, I am the cyborg fugitive, but I'm not mad. Thank you for not attacking us, but I hope you don't regret it, because whether you like it or not, welcome to the Resistance."


	8. Whoops this is not a chapter So sorry!

Hey guys so I'm sorry this is not a chapter but I got a review from a confused guest and I thought it was good feedback so I thought I would reply to it here. If you had not guessed, I took a few liberties with the plot here :-P. That being mostly that I skipped Meyer's coming third novel, Cress. My assumptions for that book are: (Cress is already in the resistance, she and Thorne are together, Erland is her father).

That means that you guys are a little in the dark as to what exactly is going on. Partly I did this because I wanted to connect the story more to Kai—this way readers will feel about as confused as he does. And partly I did this because when I started writing it was just the first scene, and when I decided to keep going I knew that Cinder would already have done A LOT of stuff between escaping and Kai's wedding… hence the plot gap. But exciting things are coming! I noticed I lost a few followers *sniff lol so I guess I have to up the ante. Up next, Kai visits the Resistance base and meets the gang! And Dr. Erland starts to get some suspicions about the plague…


	9. Sanctions

**I am terribly sorry about this, buuuuuuuut I lied. This one is not Kai going to the Resistance. It's more politics. Does anyone like politics as much as me? Anyway sorry if these chapters are not as interesting as you were hoping—plot points, my dumplings, plot points! And the tension builds…**

**PS. If you hate this type of chapter, let me know. Maybe I should avoid them in future.**

**PPS. Also sorry about the wait. There's this little thing called school…**

CALL… END

The text scrolled across ρ's surface. Kai flexed his fingers and sat back, somewhat disappointed.

"Were you able to at least make contact with Cinder?"

D-COMM… RECEIVED… CALL… END

She must have hung up on him. At least this seemed to be the way to get in touch with Cinder. Kai wondered if she were talking to someone else, or in danger, or even sleeping. He had no idea what time zone she was in… if she was on Earth.

Stretching, Kai stood up from his desk and made his way out of the royal rooms, headed for the dining hall and breakfast. Torin was already seated at the long table, seemingly locked in an unruffled-and-unreadable-royal-advisor-off with Sibyl. The sat opposite each other, neither pair of chopsticks touched, napkins folded primly as both refused to break eye contact. Sibyl's composed expression was marred by slightly narrowed eyes. The hall had more guards than usual as Levana insisted on having her own guards there. Kai felt rather more threatened than guarded by the Lunar soldiers that followed her around, so he kept his, too.

Torin's hand jerked when Kai came in. Sibyl turned as well as Levana floated in behind Kai, startling him when she appeared out of nowhere. The four began to eat in silence while 8 guards stood around them. Kai would almost find the situation funny if it was not so serious. As it was, the scrape of chopsticks on plates was making him feel uneasy. Or perhaps it was just that he always felt uneasy these days.

He cleared his throat. "How go the preparations for your return trip?" He asked Levana politely.

Her voice was as serene as ever as she responded. "Not as smoothly as expected." It felt strange knowing that she thought he saw and heard something different than what he did when speaking to her. "I must have a longer stay on Luna than I was expecting. There has been some reaction to my taking an Earthen husband. I must make certain that the situation is dealt with before I return."

Kai snorted ironically, but hastily turned it into a cough. How interesting that there was prejudice from the Lunars in return. What did they have to fear from Earthens? But he was distracted.

"Return? Return here? You do not mean to remain on Luna? But how will you rule your planet?" Kai sat up straighter, somewhat alarmed. Torin lowered his chopsticks, also looking unpleasantly surprised by this news.

"I will travel back and forth between Earth and Luna for now. Sibyl and my thaumaturges can help me to govern Luna while I am gone. In the meantime I can be here, getting to know the politics of your country and helping you transition to a system more compatible with our political strategy," Levana said calmly.

Kai spluttered. "So immediately? Levana, you've got to— we haven't discussed—"

"Don't you think that it is important for the people of the Commonwealth to get to know me?" Levana simpered at Kai. He glanced at Torin, who was gripping his cup tightly.

A messenger suddenly burst into the room. "Emperor, Empress, begging your pardon for the interruption," the man addressed himself to Kai. He was out of breath and his forehead shone slightly. "Urgent COMM from Prime Minister Kamin of the African Union." He pushed a netscreen towards Kai and Levana sucked in her breath. Kai glanced at her, angling the screen only towards himself before turning the connection on.

"This is an outrage!" Prime Minister Kamin's voice shrieked into the room. The woman's hair was frazzled and her eyes glowed with anger. "I will not have this! Do you hear me? Where is the Empress, Emperor Kaito? How can you _stand for this! _This kind of action—"

"Prime Minister Kamin, please calm down. I have no idea what you are talking about." Kai looked over at Levana, whose expression betrayed nothing.

"You have no idea_?_" Prime Minister Kamin hissed. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA? No idea that there have been _Commonwealth_ soldiers attacking my cities at random alongside the Lunar mutants that ravaged Earth a month ago?"

"Commonwealth soldiers? What?" Kai stood up in alarm.

"Yes. Lagos. Accra. Johannesburg. All were attacked yesterday. 20 people were killed! Buildings burned, monuments destroyed. What is going on? What is the meaning of this outrage? Not since your _grandfather_ was in power did—"

"Please," Kai interrupted again, overwhelmed at this news. "Please, this is the first I have heard of this. Give me some time to—"

"No. Young emperor, this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. It is a direct violation of the treaty which has governed our relations for decades! I do not care if this is the first you have heard of it. That merely proves that you are incapable of fulfilling your duties as emperor and controlling what goes on in your own country. You are responsible for informing Levana what _her_ responsibilities are as Empress. Until the two of you can together learn to respect the relationship of the Earthen nations, the African Union will no longer recognize you as leaders of the Eastern Commonwealth. As of now I am suspending all food-related trade to the Commonwealth and Luna." Kai gasped in horror but the Prime Minister spoke over him. "If these attacks continue, we will be forced to increase the severity of our sanctions."

"No, please. Prime Minister, now does not seem a good time to divide ourselves—"

"That is all I have to say to you, Emperor Kaito. Your traders will no longer find our ports open to them. You may want to pass the message along to your empress and your citizens. Good day."

The connection cut off abruptly. The room was silent. Kai stared in panic at the blank netscreen, and everyone else stared at Kai. His gaze flicked up to Levana's. Her face showed no emotion, though behind her Kai could see the hint of a smirk on her red-haired guard's face.

"_What do you think you are doing_?" Kai exploded at her. Torin stood too. He put a hand on Kai's arm, but did not seem any more restrained or less angry than Kai was at the moment. "You are risking too much this time, Levana! Commonwealth soldiers? You attacked the African Union with Commonwealth soldiers?"

"You told me to draw from within _our_ people if I needed reinforcements for my search," Levana reminded him sweetly.

Sibyl broke in. "We have received reports that that traitor of yours, Dr. Erland, was Lunar and that he aided in Linh Cinder's escape, though you did not deign to share such news with us. We have also received reports that he is in Africa. The soldiers are looking for him, nothing more. That is why the death count is so low."

"_Low_?"

"Yes, low," Said Levana, "It was not a direct attack on the AU. The severity of the Prime Minister's reaction is unwarranted and will die down when the shock wears off."

"Unwarranted? You attacked her cities and killed her people!" Kai was shouting.

"If you will excuse me, Emperor, I have to return to preparations. I will be gone from Earth for about half a lunar cycle. We leave in two days. If you should need to contact me," Levana stood and began making her way out of the room, "You can of course send a D-COMM to Sibyl."

"Levana." Kai caught her arm. She turned around, seething at him. "You cannot simply dismiss this. The AU's sanctions could result in famine. You have a responsibility to this country now, and as Empress of the Eastern Commonwealth, you have to hold to the Treaty of Brennan. If you want to break it, you do so as Queen of Luna—you _cannot_ use Commonwealth soldiers! If you must continue your search for Linh Cinder like this, let's _talk_ to the Prime Minister, and we can send men in to look. But please stop this madness."

Levana's guards stepped forward threateningly. Kai released Levana, but held her gaze. "You must stop," he insisted.

She considered before answering, "There will be no more attacks. The idiots that I sent were not meant to kill anyone anyway, and they have already been disposed of. Next time they will be more discreet. That will give them a better chance of finding Erland. Perhaps I will even send Sibyl herself." Levana looked at her.

The thaumaturge trembled a little with anger as she stepped between Kai and her Queen. With a final glance at Kai and Torin, they left, the four Lunar guards trailing in their wake.

Kai simply stood frozen after they were gone. After a minute, he turned around to a still shell-shocked Torin. Kai waved the guards away, then sat back down in his place at the table, putting his head in his hands. Torin shakily lowered himself into the chair next to Kai. They sat in silence for several minutes, processing what had just happened. For once, even Torin seemed at a loss. Levana refused to see reason. It seemed she truly didn't care about the Commonwealth at all. Or perhaps creating division among Earth's 6 countries was part of her plan. Weaken her prey, then take it down.

"You handled that… well," Torin offered.

Kai swallowed. "I think," he said a little hoarsely, "I may want to pay a visit to Africa while Levana is away."

Torin nodded. "We will see what can be done to repair the situation."

"We shouldn't let her turn us against each other. That will only make the situation worse. For everyone. For the country… unh, Torin, what are people going to do for food? We depend on the African Union. I've got to convince Kamin to reverse this decision."


	10. D-COMM

Torin nodded again, bleakly. "And," Kai hesitated, "I have had some contact with the Lunar Resistance."

Torin shot him a wary look. "I hope we will not place all of our hopes in them, Your Highness."

"You don't want to instate Cinder as the true queen of Luna, then?"

"No," Torin continued, "That isn't it. I just think that they do not have the same considerations that we do, and are willing to take risks that we cannot take. But they are not out in the open yet—maybe they will surprise me. That girl has certainly surprised me enough so far."

Kai grinned a little. "Oh, and that reminds me. I'd like to call off the cyborg draft. Erland told me that the draft's real purpose was just to find Cinder, and that the hope of finding an antidote like that was slim, so I think it's time we stop such a waste."

Torin seemed a bit surprised. "You will call off the search for a cure?"

"No," Kai said carefully, "Levana should be bringing her antidote to Earth soon. And to avoid dependence on her, we will continue searching, but not at the expense of a group of my citizens. I think this is a time when we need to be unified as a country. And continuing to treat cyborgs as second-class citizens isn't helping. This won't solve everything, but it's a start. And I think it will show everyone that we're concerned about the citizenry's well-being."

"Very well." Torin did not look like he disagreed. "It will be done. What word from the Resistance, then?"

"Well, I haven't spoken with them, exactly," Kai said sheepishly, "They gave me this." He held out ρ. Torin studied the ring.

"Rho, say hello to Torin." Pause. "Rho?" The android remained stubbornly blank. Torin raised an eyebrow.

Kai cleared his throat, slipping the ring back on his finger. "Um, Rho, I hereby command you to say hello to Torin. He is a friend." Kai felt silly while they both waited.

The android grew warm on his finger then, and text scrolled across the surface. Kai smiled, triumphant, and then—

CINDER

"Not Cinder. _Torin_."

CINDER, ρ insisted. The ring grew warmer.

Torin tilted his head. "What is it?"

"An android. It's got a D-COMM, though I haven't gotten it to work ye—oh, Cinder! Yes, yes, accept D-COMM."

"Hello?" Cinder's voice echoed quietly from the ring on Kai's finger. Torin stared.

"Hello!" Kai laughed. Torin nudged him and Kai lowered his voice, abashed.

"You figured out Rho." There was a smile in her voice.

"Yes, well, he helped. This ring is so clever! How did you get it to be aware of when other people are in the room?" His voice –absurdly—sounded much sillier than he would have liked. He swallowed back the giddiness that did not belong to someone who was in as much trouble as he was.

"It has sensors, just like any other android. They're just too small to tell." Kai thought he could hear murmurs behind Cinder's voice.

"That Cress of yours must be quite the programmer."

"Why thank you, Your Highness!" A new voice came from ρ now. A few people laughed in the background. "I hope the Bio is working for you?"

"Um, yes, it does the trick…"

"Oh, sorry. You're on with the main crew here." Cinder's voice again. "We're not actually on base right now and we've been… preoccupied. That's why I had to hang up on you earlier. Sorry."

"It's fine. It's good I was free—I ended up having to take an urgent call from Prime Minister Kamin of the African Union. A rather unpleasant conversation, actually."

"Oh?"

Kai glanced at Torin, who shook his head. "It's just Levana stirring up trouble."

"Yeah, she attacked a few African cities just yesterday. And she's had spies crawling around European cities for weeks."

Kai and Torin both sat up in surprise. "Um, yes, actually, that's exactly what Kamin was calling about. Although I didn't know about Levana's spies in Europe."

"I'd bet the European Federation doesn't know about them either."

Kai's jaw flexed. This was troubling news. And how did Cinder know about it?

"I'll be going to Africa in the next week, I think," he told her, "Trying to smooth things over while Levana leaves the planet. What if I visited the Resistance while I'm there? Secretly, of course. The political visit will be the only official excuse for my being there. But are you in the AU, with Dr. Erland?"

Cinder hesitated, looking around the crowded cockpit. Wolf was looking wary, gesturing at her to be cautious.

"Um, Ka—Emperor, Kai, we're going—"

"Wait—_Emperor_?" said another unfamiliar voice. "As in, of the Eastern Commonwealth? As in, _the Queen's Husband? _What are you doing! Don't give him our location!"

"Relax, Rhea. He's not going to tell Levana where we are. Let's just say his loyalties lie elsewhere..." Someone else assured him. Kai raised an eyebrow at the impertinence of the new disembodied voice.

More quietly, "You've got the Queen's own husband working against her?"

"No, they do not," Torin piped up for the first time.

"OK stop!" Cinder said. "If you all had not noticed, these androids work better for a _two_ –person conversation. Kai, did I hear Torin, there with you?" Kai hmm'd after a moment, realizing that Cinder could not see him nodding.

"Good," she said, "I'd hoped you would tell him about the android. But we need you not to tell anyone else. That ring needs to be secure."

"Of course."

"OK. Then yes, one of our bases that I mentioned to you before is in Africa. Rabat, Morrocco, specifically. And if you're around it would work perfectly for you to come. We can discuss more then how far you're able to get involved. I think the person you'll need to talk to first is Captain Thorne, our fleet commander, so I'll put you on with him to figure out the details."

Kai bristled. Torin gave him a questioning look, but Kai ignored him. There was no justifiable reason for him to dislike the escaped cadet—that he would say out loud anyway. "All right. I will be schedule a trip to Rabat in a few days' time then. Give me Thorne and we will figure it out. With any luck I'll be able to set right some of Levana's wrongs on this trip," he said darkly. And perhaps it was Kai's very real dislike of the man he was about to be passed off to that made him bold enough to say, "And, I look forward to seeing you again. Cinder."

Torin threw him a look.

"They're on first name terms?" Kai thought he heard someone ask.

Cinder stammered a goodbye, making Kai smile. Then he heard Thorne's voice.

"Hellooooooo, Your Majesty," he said grandiosely. Kai gritted his teeth slightly, and they began to plan.


	11. The Train

**Hey guys, so I'm really sorry about the lengthy pause. Life, you know... All of your reviews and messages are wonderful though, and are the greatest source of motivation and inspiration to keep going :-). Thank you for reading and enjoying the story! As always, dumplings, constructive criticism is most welcome. And if you're interested, most of the details to the story-like the places, the descriptions-are accurate! (at least, I tried to make them that way) Enjoy!**

* * *

The windows of the _Imperial Express_ rattled next to Cinder's nose, her retina display keeping track of their speed as they rocketed along. The train chugged through lands that remained largely bare. Though there had been some effort to make better use of this area before the Third World War, the population remained stubbornly low. This was Cinder's first time to Central Asia, and she watched in unspoken appreciation as the train angled along the Celestial Mountains toward Kashgar, and beyond it the Irkeshtam Pass that would take them through the mountains. The shifting sands desert they had just crossed stretched out to the east, its dips and curves framing a brilliant, fiery sunrise. The land, and the people who made their homes here, had a harsh beauty.

Cinder never rode trains much. They were an old form of transportation, Linh Adri had said, mainly for long distance travel and cheap, mass transportation. But Cinder liked the creaking and rattling that many people found out-of-date, the satisfying vibration of steel on steel. This machine was real earth-sweat-salt filtered through the ingenuity of a former age, hands forming and reforming metal until it served the desired purpose. She felt like she understood each nut and bolt of the train as it sped along. She would have to ask Iko what it felt like to be aware of so many little parts and pieces. The Asian countryside blurred a little as they raced past.

Cinder looked around the small train compartment. Wolf sat next to her, leaving the whole second bench to Scarlet, who sagged against the cushion opposite Cinder. Scarlet had gotten little sleep over the past few days, trying to coordinate how to sneak Emperor Kai away from his official schedule, show him around a Resistance base, and return him to his party—without arousing anyone's attention and in time for him to stay on schedule for his visit with the African Prime Minister. The easiest place to bring Kai was of course the base in Morocco. The other two were in Europe, and it made more sense to keep Kai in just the one continent.

So they had settled on a train journey as the easiest way to do so. This compartment was the best Scarlet had been able to get for the ride: a small booth for four with two short cushioned benches facing each other, a little room for luggage, and a door which sealed them away from the world during this three-day journey from New Beijing to Rabat, Morrocco.

Cinder turned her attention to the netscreen on the compartment wall, where the reporter had begun running through another announcement about the emperor's journey.

"_This morning Emperor Kaito is starting day 2 of his 3-day journey to visit the Commonwealth's western provinces, in a show of goodwill towards the nation's people in these troubled times. He has been journeying by train in an effort to be closer to the people, a decision that will remind many of his grandfather, the late Emperor Hiro. The Emperor has been stopping for a few hours in many cities throughout the Commonwealth to hear citizens' complaints and offer support. However he may find that a symbolic act of good faith is not enough to make up for the recent political turmoil_…"

Cinder frowned at the reporter. The "recent political turmoil" was hardly Kai's fault. Wolf grunted in response, and Cinder threw him a glance.

"Something to add?" Her tone might have been a bit sharper than necessary, but the long ride was making them all irritable. Wolf mumbled something.

"_After his last stop tomorrow in Damascus, the Emperor will continue on to the African Union on a diplomatic visit to discuss the recent economic sanctions..."_

"You know, for someone who has pledged their loyalty to me, you sure have a hard time giving me a straight answer."

Wolf gazed levelly at her. "I don't care for the way Emperor Kaito treats his subjects." His voice was low, and he looked away when he was done speaking.

Cinder's hackles rose defensively. "What do mean, the way he treats them? Emperor Kai is one of Earth's kindest rulers. Everything he does is for his people."

"You know what I mean." It was true. They had had this argument before, although Cinder didn't know if she could call what Wolf did arguing. He spoke so calmly and deliberately that it made her feel childish. "He is letting the common people deal with Levana because he cannot. His father kept Levana at bay for years without war or making her empress. I don't know. Maybe he's just young, but there could have been other ways… Cinder, you don't know what it's like on Luna. Almost anything is better than her. She's twisted," his voice was bitter, "and the Emperor just… gave in. Just threw his country to her feet."

Wolf thought that Kai shouldn't have married Levana. Something in Cinder couldn't entirely disagree with him, but she did know that Kai was doing everything in his power to protect his citizens. She also couldn't think of _what_ alternatives had actually existed at the time of Levana's attack. And in any case, Kai was doing something _now._ Cinder had snapped retorts to these comments before, but the thought of a young Wolf being ripped from his half-starved family had her regarding him a bit sadly. They had all lost pieces of themselves: herself, Wolf, Scarlet, Cress, Kai… Whether the wounds were physical or emotional made no difference. What mattered now was finding a way to stop the desolation before it touched millions more lives. Cinder sighed.

"Look, Wolf, I have to go. We're getting near Kashgar and Scarlet and I have a job to do." She sighed. "I appreciate the honesty, but I really hope that you won't be so… _familiar_ with the Emperor." Even if Wolf had pledged his loyalty and she was technically the leader of the Resistance _and_ the rightful princess of Luna, Cinder felt uncomfortable making the request an order. "He is not here to argue politics. And the Resistance needs his support."

* * *

Wolf stood, looking down at her. "Of course." Cinder squeezed past him and reached for the Scarlet, shaking her awake. She stretched, looking from Cinder to Wolf, before Cinder grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the cabin, Wolf's eyes intent on their backs. They headed out of the area of private compartments.

The corridor outside was bustling. It would have made Linh Adri's hair curl just thinking about it. Moving was hard with so many people packed in the long car. Those who had bought sitting tickets looked grumpy and tired, while those with standing tickets had abandoned all attempts at decorum and slept or sat it the aisles or on stolen edges of seats. The AC that attempted to give a reprieve from the press of bodies was too cold. Cinder shivered.

They edged through the people, no one looking twice at the tall, quiet young men Cinder had glamoured them as. The crowd faded apart to make a path for them without looking in their direction, unaware. When they were through the series of public cars Cinder pressed a button on her watch and stood waiting, looking absently around the café car they were standing in. From their car they could see all the way down to the cue for a royal audience. There were a few people standing at the entrance along with some guards, two of whom were exceptionally large. Cinder could just see Kai through the tangle of limbs. His hair fell down to frame his face. He looked relaxed as he chatted with his subjects, but there was an edge of unease in his posture.

She scratched her wrist nervously. Of their grand total of three conversations since his marriage to Levana, since her escape, since they faced each other over her sparking cyborg foot, two had been in others' company, one had been with Kai drugged, and all had been rushed. They seemed to have settled on an unspoken truce though—tenuous, uncertain trust, a pretended understanding in front of their companions. Because what choice did they have, really? They needed to trust each other. But Cinder recalled uncomfortably how off-balance she felt around Kai even when he was _clearly_ missing a few filters, anesthetically induced. Even before all this mess, any _understanding_ had never really been there between them, she guessed she had to admit. She hadn't let there be one, though there had been times... Now she wasn't sure it would ever come.

Kai was talking with a man when he suddenly jumped and looked – eargerly? – at the pewter ring on his right hand, then motioned to one of the guards and spoke in his ear. The two big ones started to walk down through the train. They passed Cinder and Scarlet and one turned into a bathroom nearby while the other waited outside. Cinder glamoured the area around the restroom and then ducked through the same bathroom door. The space was tight with the two of them in there. She smiled at the ferocious looking man as he tried to squeeze himself into the corner.

"Rhea." She nodded at him.

"Princess."

"All set?"

"Oh yeah," he nodded, grinning. "I'll be fine. You go get him." Cinder glamoured him to look like the man she had been moments ago, and with a wink he was out the door. She stepped out looking like the burliest royal guard the people on this train had probably ever seen, and waited as Scarlet and the second guard, one of Wolf's pack, ducked in, reemerging with opposite guises. Cinder watched the two men walk through the stream of moving passengers and then jump out of the train which had ground to a halt at the station in Kashgar. She made sure to concentrate on them as they walked away from the station. The wolves would find a pub somewhere and take up identities as passers through before hitching a ride to Europe on another train. Cinder and Scarlet then made their way through the dining cars towards Kai, making an effort to be intimidating.

* * *

They took up their position at the entrance to Kai's room. After Kai had spoken briefly with the few people waiting to see him, the entrance to the waiting area was roped off and the doors to Kai's compartment closed. It was considerably larger than the one where they had left Wolf.

"You made it!" Kai stood, smiling widely.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Torin added, clearly attempting to discern which wolf was Cinder.

Cinder let her glamour fade, and one of the guards sucked in a breath. Cinder glanced at the man before responding to Kai.

"Hey. Yeah. Scarlet here is the one who coordinated everything. She's pretty much in charge of the Resistance's political relations. And as of last week, that includes you." Cinder grinned at him.

His mouth quirked. "I'll consider myself put in charge of."

Scarlet stepped forward. "Your Highness." She bowed.

"Mademoiselle Benoit." Kai smiled again. "Cinder told me about you when she was in New Beijing last time. Sounds like you're a good one to have as a fill in for my guards."

Scarlet laughed. "Sure am." Showing off, she flipped out the gun that she had tucked in the back waist of her pants. Next she somehow materialized a foot-long machete that Cinder hadn't even realized she was carrying.

"Scarlet!"

The same guard who had blanched when Cinder's glamour faded took a step away from Scarlet.

"Wow." Kai reached out for the blade. "May I?" Scarlet handed it to him and he balanced its weight carefully. He hefted the machete and brought it down in a graceful arc. "This is a North American blade," he said, "Second Era. I've never seen one except in pictures. Where did you get it?" He looked impressed.

"It was my grandmother's," Scarlet said, "A gift from my grandfather, apparently. Who was Lunar."

Kai's eyes snapped up from the weapon in his hands, his expression careful. "You're part Lunar, then."

Cinder coughed. "Um, sorry. I didn't have time to give you all the details last time."

Kai handed back Scarlet's machete, his eyes shifting to Cinder as he tried to mask the questions spilling through them. "Do you have any powers then? I've never met someone who's _part_ Lunar. Actually, I've never even heard of a Lunar-Earthen match before, though there must have been some."

The room fell silent for a second, before Cinder prompted, "Kai?" with an incredulous expression, "Aren't you forgetting something…?"

"Oh!" Kai laughed at himself, though by the end the sound was bitter. "I forget sometimes. It's not like I actually consider her my… well, never mind. We have to get going. It's nearly 8:00."

They trudged in a line out of the private exit to Kai's car and towards the center of town. Torin gestured towards a luxurious cart that waited for the emperor, but Kai waved the driver off, saying, "It isn't far."

Torin looked like he wanted to argue, but Cinder squeezed him gently on the shoulder as she passed. Their eyes met and Torin closed his mouth before hopping up next to the driver and showing him the way by himself. Glamoured again as Kai's guard, Cinder enveloped herself and Scarlet in a cloud of intimidation, ensuring that no one thought twice about approaching the party. They made their way to Kashgar's People's Square where people gathered in front of a podium, waited attentively at outdoor restaurants, spilled out of balconies. Kai sighed quietly. Cinder looked at him, and he smiled rather ruefully.

"Here I go again. Oh—almost forgot," they paused, still out of sight of the crowd, "That woman there," he pointed to a women standing at the front, her face expectant, "is the khanum of Kashgar. I'll talk to her. Just as important though, see that man sitting at the restaurant—the one in red? His name is Amul Temkin. He's the head of the association that all the tea houses in the area belong to. My father was friends with him. Said he lost hundreds of kuai to him over Mazhong. He used to come here with Dr. Erland—they said Temkin made the best ginger tea in the country. Erland said it healed their bitter old hearts." Kai smiled wistfully, then shook his head. "And you know, Kashgar is not only a political and cultural crossroads, it's a center of information and the perfect spot for refugees to get lost. It's possible Temkin knows something already about the whole Selene conspir—well, not conspiracy, but…" He glanced uncomfortably at Cinder. "Anyway, Temkin holds a lot of sway over what information people hear, and how exactly it's told. We'll need him, I think, if we want to start a Resistance effort in Kashgar."

Kai then marched up to the khanum, who bounced over to the podium and gave him an introduction. Kai began making a speech to the crowd about how honored he was to be their emperor, explaining the African sanctions and his plan regarding them, asking for their support, saying he was ready to give his in any way he could. He then invited people to step forward and voice their complaints and opinions. Some were angry. Some were quietly grateful. Some were scared. Cinder watched as the people of Kashgar stepped up to speak to their emperor. Despite Kai's doubts, she could see that he was a natural leader, gracious and understanding. How would she ever be able to lead her own country like that?

* * *

Scarlet, meanwhile, was sidling along the back of the crowd, heading for the tea house owner. Amul Temkin had not moved, save to cross his arms and purse his lips. Scarlet approached him and the small group around him from behind. Some of them muttered darkly as Kai tried to explain why he had taken Levana as his empress, but Temkin paid close attention, watching the Emperor from across the square.

"Hello, friend."

The group tensed. One of the women whipped around, glaring at Scarlet. A man hissed slightly under his breath.

But Temkin smiled politely and said, "Good morning. You know, there are not many who can sneak up on me and my friends that way. I can see the Emperor chooses his guards carefully."

Scarlet smiled, and someone in the group muttered. She scowled at the people surrounding Temkin, but most just looked curiously back. They clearly did not trust her, but her advantage was that they probably did not trust the police in the crowd either. Or any random person here, for that matter. Levana had spies everywhere.

"Are you Amul Temkin, the tea house owner?" Scarlet was a bit startled by her own voice, all gruff and harsh tones. She couldn't really blame Temkin's companions for drawing back slightly.

"I am. Please call me Amul. May I ask, who is it that honors me with this visit?" Despite his friendly demeanor, Scarlet could sense a tight restraint about his eyes.

She eyed him. "I come on behalf of those more powerful than myself."

"Wonder who that could be?" One man asked, rolling his eyes. Scarlet shot him a look.

"It is not who you think, though the Emperor is involved."

"Hmm. As he seems to be with everything that spells trouble for our country lately." Amul tilted back in his chair. "Nevertheless, please sit."

Scarlet sat, as Kai attempted rational speech with a giggling group of young women. Cinder looked disgruntled up on the makeshift stage. "You don't seem very impressed with Emperor Kaito's speech."

Amul was careful. "Well, I'm not easily impressed. Kashgar sees a lot of people pass through here for trade and travel. The folk here have learned not to trust too quickly."

"And yet, neither are you cursing him so quickly, as some of your companions are." A few of the group looked sheepish, while a few looked nervous.

"Yes, well. With Levana's soldiers showing up now and then rather unexpectedly and the informants they have among our own people, one does not lightly criticize royalty." Her eyes widened in alarm, and flicked around the crowd in the square, none of them far off from the little group. He leaned forward to speak low to Scarlet. "Besides, there is some of his father in the Emperor yet, even if he is a bit too optimistic. I find it interesting that he wants the African Union to make an alliance with the _people_ of the Commonwealth, as he put it, not the country itself. As in, not with the government, not with himself. And he says we 'will not be alone in the struggle for a brighter future.' Is that rhetorical? And if not, who does he mean? I am wondering now if you can tell me that." He finished his little speech, regarding Scarlet carefully the whole time.

Scarlet tried to keep the excited light from her eyes. He was perceptive. But she was suddenly very aware of the listening ears surrounding them. How to get Amul to trust her enough to meet them later, in private? "I cannot speak for the Emperor." She grasped at any ideas to give him a hint. It seemed a long shot— "But he and his friends would like to speak with you. They have travelled a long way to taste the Commonwealth's best ginger tea and heal their bitter old hearts. Perhaps we could discuss things over a private tasting?"

Amul hesitated, looking intrigued, but wary. His companions looked suspicious. Scarlet waited, fiddling nervously with her pockets. She reached forward suddenly, grasping Amul's wrist just below the edge of the table. "Please." Her eyes flicked down once and he followed her gaze to the small compact mirror she pushed into his hand. He opened it, angling it towards her, and paled slightly. He clicked it silently closed again almost at once. His expression was still not trusting, but it was curious now. Curious enough.

"I would be honored to host the Emperor as a guest. I suppose I can brave springing some surprise visitors on my wife if it is royalty, and certainly Emperor Kaito would be more comfortable in my private home than in a tea house. Please come to my home on Century Road in an hour. Number 1015."


	12. Kashgar

Cinder was still busy being intimidating when Scarlet returned to the stage. She had set her retina display to be on cue for people's reactions to Kai, and more than once it had flared at her, warning her of the aggressive responses of certain citizens to the Emperor's words. Kai was standing amid the front of the crowd now, even as Cinder tried to usher him back on the stage. But while others backed quickly away from Cinder, all Kai did was distract her with an easy smile before turning back to his people. Her nostrils flared. She could not actually protect anyone, if it came to something. He had too much faith in her gift. He really didn't understand it. All Earthens seemed cowed by the mere suggestion of Lunar powers.

Scarlet came up beside her.

"So?"

"Century Road. In an hour. And he knows I've been glamoured."

"Does anyone else?"

"No, I don't think so. But some of his snotty groupies did hear bits of our conversation."

"All right. Well, we'll just have to make sure that it is really a private audience."

The crowd began filtering away as the serious questions were answered and people simply wanted to talk to their emperor. Cinder hovered, nervously, grumpily, as Kai spoke to any citizen who approached him. Young, old, kind, distrustful, dangerous, possibly homicidal, he insisted on seeing them all. Her retina display picked up on the knife in this one's belt, the anger in that one's eyes, this one's fighter's build. Scarlet gave Cinder a litte shove, rolling her eyes, and walked to Kai, leaning down and whispering in his ear.

Kai, who had felt the words before actually hearing them, blushed a little and turned only to find himself facing Scarlet. "Sorry, what?" The blush spread to his ears as she smirked.

"We need to be at Amul Temkin's house in 20 minutes. We'll be having a private audience in his home over ginger tea."

An odd, sad smile broke across his face when she said that. "Wonderful. I am glad to meet my father's old friend. And can you tell Torin that he will accompany a guest of ours in another carriage? The Khanum would like the chance to continue our conversation."

Scarlet just nodded, hiding her wolfy teeth, and strode towards Torin. Five minutes later, Kai was offering an arm to the Khanum as she stepped into the carriage and requesting that this carriage be given a guard-presence too. Scarlet quickly volunteered, leaving Kai and Cinder to climb into his carriage alone.

* * *

Kai could have sworn his carriages were usually bigger than this. Now it felt close, practically intimate. Cinder sat opposite him, their knees almost touching. Kai cleared his throat as the horse started forward, searching for fresh air. He tugged at the microphone, still clipped on both sides of his collar, wires leading to an ear-piece and a battery and switch at his waist. He fumbled, and his ears went pink again. What a stupid reflex that was. The Khanum's assistant must have _tied_ the mike in place instead of just clipping it, because it was somehow impossible to undo, and now it was getting tangled around his buttons and in the royal chains he wore tucked under his shirt.

Cinder finally took pity on Kai and leaned forward, pushing his hands aside and unwinding the knots he had managed to tie. This only increased his embarrassment, and he was acutely aware that the last time they were this close he had been shirtless and spilling his thoughts to her without inhibition. Not that anything he'd said wasn't true, but he would have said them to the old Cinder. Well, no he wouldn't because she wouldn't have wanted him to. He kept needing to remind himself that this was not the girl he'd met, and he didn't know her as well as he thought. Except that she was the same girl, mostly, and he did trust her, mostly—stars even his thoughts were scrambling. He focused back on Cinder as she pulled away with the microphone, noting the discomfort in her own eyes for the first time.

"So."

He should stop acting like an idiot. Now. He flashed a smile at her, and watched the familiar reaction: lips part slightly, brow unknits. He liked that reaction, the same since the first time he had smiled at her. His nerves lessened somewhat.

"My body guards don't usually try to shepherd me in like that." He grinned more mischievously now. "I felt like a wayward sheep."

"You do realize how many people in that crowd were angry with you? Really angry?" Her tone was admonishing. "And you talked to every one of them. Never mind that more than a dozen of those who spoke to you were carrying knives."

"It's not unusual for people in Kashgar to be armed. They've had a long history of thieves, travelers, and conquerors. Never know when an alien princess is going to come in and sweep your feet out from under you, you know," Kai joked, wincing a little at the same time.

"_Alien_?"

"Um. Well, i-it's what you are right? You're not from earth. The term's not derogatory on Luna is it…?" He trailed off as Cinder looked away.

"I wouldn't know, Kai. Luna isn't my home. But I guess you're right; I'm not from Earth, either." Her voice was bitter.

"Cinder—"

"Wonder where I do belong."

"I—"

"You belong here though, you know," she continued, talking over him. Kai was frustrated. He hadn't meant to offend her. He was just trying to relieve the awkwardness that wrapped him like a blanket. But her statement surprised him.

"You're good at it. At being emperor. You know the people. You understand what they need and what they need to hear, and that those aren't always the same thing. But you're also really honest with them. And you care—so much. Sometimes too much. I was so furious with you when I first found out that you were going to marry Levana. And after all I went through to prevent it, too!"

Cinder shook her head, and they were both momentarily transported to the night of his coronation ball. He searched her face. "But I realize now that it actually makes sense, offering Levana the deal that you did, and working with her – well kind of – for the Commonwealth. She would have taken the country anyway. At least now you have some sort of say. But I could never have seen so clearly. I would have been too angry. Sometimes I think I'll never belong on the throne that way."

"You know," said Kai, "When I was young I started this habit of trying to judge if people would make a better emperor or empress than me, cause I wasn't convinced that I could ever be a good ruler. Hell I'm still not convinced. But I always thought that you would make a good empress, from the first." He laughed then. "It just wasn't _Luna_ that I pictured you ruling."

She cocked her head at him. A beat later Kai realized how that must have sounded. Stars, he hadn't meant— she didn't think he'd meant—? He hadn't meant the _Commonwealth_. Her ruling beside him. That was a few steps beyond where his still-teenage brain wanted to go. It had just been a general thought. Errant. Ok so maybe he'd pictured kissing her, but… Cinder was staring. Kai was sure his face was a crispy red.

* * *

The carriage suddenly jolted backwards hard, one side lurching off the ground for a moment. Cinder was thrown forward into Kai as he crashed against one of the coach doors. He caught her automatically and tensed for a moment, waiting for a second barrage.

"What was that?"

From behind them, he could hear Torin shouting. Scarlet, big and fierce, had gotten out of the second carriage. Kai opened the window on the side of their carriage. There was a crowd of 2 or 3 dozen people, all very angry, some holding stones, pressed up again the side of the coach. Suddenly they loosed the horse, and the carriage tipped forward dangerously. The driver took off running. Cinder and Kai struggled to stay on the back side to balance the weight, unconsciously clutching each other. Some of the mob were near the second coach, but they were avoiding coming to close it as Scarlet swiped at them. They taunted her though, pointing knives in her direction. Tired, hardened faces glared up at the carriage and jostled it more. There were shouts.

"We want to see Emperor Kaito!" "Where is he?" "Come answer for your cowardice, _Your Highness_!"

Kai's face tightened in worry and confusion, and he made to open the carriage door. When Torin saw what he meant to do, he said, "OK, OK, OK, please back away. Please. The Emperor will see you."

Scarlet approached menacingly and the crowd backed off about 10 feet, giving Kai and Cinder room to step down from the nearly sideways carriage. As soon as Cinder was out, Scarlet went back to guard the Khanum and Torin. Except that it wasn't her defending the carriage; it was Cinder. Her illusion was the only thing that protected them now. She started to panic. The mob was unruly, their emotions high, their consciousnesses slippery. How was she supposed to keep them off? Even Scarlet couldn't fight off this crowd if she failed.

A man started forward, and Kai pushed Cinder behind him, facing the aggressor. He felt a hand on his arm, and glanced back to see a bemused expression on Cinder's face as she stepped in front of him. Oh. Right. She was the guard here. With her glamour not working on Kai, it was hard to let her stare the man down as he walked forward.

Some of the people quailed under Cinder's influence. Would she disperse the crowd the way Levana had? And suddenly, Kai knew that he didn't want that. Despite the danger. He tugged on Cinder's hand. "Let them speak."

The man had halted, but stared hard at Kai around Cinder.

"We heard you were coming out to see old Temkin. You have much to answer for, Your Highness."

Scarlet retorted before Kai could reply. "And why didn't you address him back in the square, instead of ambushing us here like cowards?" She said angrily.

The mob jeered at that and a woman threw a stone at Scarlet's head. Cinders' face twisted in concentration.

"Please. That show? With the Empress's police and spies running around?" He answered Scarlet but addressed Kai. "It's hardly an opportunity to speak when your fingers will be cut off for your true opinions. You speak of support and resilience. Pretty, empty words! You know what pretty, empty words are good for when we are hiding in our houses and shops? Scared every second? Nothing! Nothing, and worse than nothing, because now we know you are mocking us as you sit in your palace. Do you know how it feels to see my father cry because he can't get healing soup for my dying mother—because 1, there is not the food to make the soup, and 2, if he went out with enough money to buy the food, it would be stolen from him by palace soldiers. We are humiliated! What are we supposed to do, Highness, huh? What? When you and your fine, important politics take aware our livelihood? A week ago you cut off our supply and already we run low on provisions! How we will feed our families? With endless rice from the south?" He gave a humorless, menacing laugh. "What good will that do my mother, who needs herbs which we have none of, because YOU have cut us off!"

The crowd rumbled around them. A few stones shattered the coach windows.

The Khanum stepped down then. She addressed the young man. "Arman, what are you thinking? That this violence will help things? You shame yourself and me. You also endanger all of the friends you brought with you today. Stop this foolishness."

Arman had his knife in hand now. He pointed with it. "Please get back inside your coach, Khanum. Our quarrel is not with you, just with the Emperor, and his lackeys." He eyed Cinder and Scarlet.

Kai spoke up, raising his volume so that the crowd could hear him. "Arman, is it? What do you mean, you are humiliated and your money stolen by palace soldiers? There is not a regiment stationed in Kashgar, and the police belong to your own city, not the palace." His mind rebelled against the thoughts already stirring in his mind behind the man's meaning. No, it couldn't be that. Please don't let it be that…

Arman cackled again. "You don't even know? He doesn't know! The whelp doesn't know that his empress's soldiers are here!" Scarlet snarled loudly at his insolence, and even Torin opened his mouth in shock. "What a joke. There are not soldiers stationed in Kashgar, Highness, they are _above_ Kashgar. And when they feel like they need food, or money, or even just a good, violent romp, they come down and avail themselves of the things we pay for in sweat!"

"What?" Kai was horrified (it was becoming a sickeningly familiar emotion). "She— You are harassed by the Lunar men who attacked Earth a month ago? Have they been here that whole time?"

"Yes. Have the other cities you _graced_ with your visits not said anything?" A woman from the crowd jeered. "How are you so out of touch? The crown took our food away, and sent oppressors in its place. _And then_, even if we had comforted ourselves with the thought that our emperor was not to blame, that eventually he would find the spine to stand up to the Empress, the search for a cure to the plague has been called off. By your decree, not hers. _Yours._ The plague that has devastated our country for decades. That has destroyed our economy, our culture, families, lives. Our schools sit half empty! Farm lands fallow, because there is no labor to work them all. AND YOU CALLED IT OFF! No more antidotes, no more hope. To protect _cyborgs_. You have abandoned your people. You are unfit to be emperor." She spat. Arman nodded grimly in approval.

The Khanum gasped. There were yells of agreement and they jumped when someone snapped the wheel off Kai's carriage. Scarlet had her machete out now. One woman made a sudden move towards Torin and Scarlet's knife clashed with hers. The sound rang in the air, though chaos did not break out yet. The mood was odd, violence roiling beneath a thick tension that somehow kept them from action. Kai knew it was Cinder. Cinder shook with effort. She couldn't let them keep speaking much longer while still maintaining her and Scarlet's façade. But Kai seemed to want to let them talk. She wasn't sure what to do. Kai started forward, past Cinder, and she pushed him back, desperate. He turned towards her with the shadow of his smile. Even now, she was distracted. How he could smile at this moment…

"That," Kai spoke to Arman, "is treasonous." Arman lifted his chin, defiant, though Kai saw a little spark of fear there. "Thank you for saying it." Now Arman took a step back, confused. Kai continued, "My greatest fear with Levana here is that she will turn our population to mindless obedience. I am glad to find that contention is alive and well."

The crowd muttered again, and someone shouted, "Stop your flattery."

Arman nodded. "Words do not excuse how you have handled your rule."

"No, it doesn't," Kai agreed. He wondered how obvious his anxiety was. He could feel Cinder tremble behind him. He somehow felt a little better when Arman's knife was not pointed at her though. "So let me explain. My deal with Levana was that _she _would become ruler of the Commonwealth, while I would take on a more advisory role. I'm not sure if there was a better choice to be made at the time, but please believe me that that was the most terrible decision I have ever made. But it was clear that fighting her outright was no longer an option, and she would not stop before gaining the Commonwealth." Here he lowered his voice. "If you are interested in more subtle measures of fighting back, I suggest you talk to your tea house owners in a few hours.

"My heart truly breaks at what you've said; I didn't know her mutants were raiding Commonwealth towns. About the cyborg draft, I suppose I really ought to give you an answer there." Here Kai drew himself up and his voice had a hint of more authority. "Part of my deal with Levana is that she would bring the cure for letumosis with her to Earth. It will come with her next visit to the Commonwealth. To continue our own search for a cure by experimenting on cyborgs is morally repugnant and unspeakably cruel. Cyborgs are not second class citizens. They are people. They just happened to have had an accident. I am guessing that if your mother were to lose an arm to her sickness, you would not think it better for her to live without an arm when she had an option to get one. It wouldn't make her less human, not in my eyes, and I bet not in yours." His ears turned a bit red as he felt Cinder's eyes on his back. "I realize the relationship will always be complex between cyborgs and non-cyborgs, but we can't afford to divide ourselves by arguing over who is _more_ human. The same arguments had our country split into many nations a few hundred years ago. Especially now—"

* * *

"Arman!" A voice rang out over the crowded street. Kai turned to see his father's old friend striding towards them, his face furious. Kai hadn't seen the man up close since he was 5. Even old, fearful, and furious, he brought back comforting memories.

"Amul," Arman said stiffly.

"In Rikan's name, what are you doing? Get these people out of here! The driver you scared off ran for the police!"

At this, the chaos that Cinder had been struggling to control spilled over. It was not violence now, but panic. Men and women ran every direction. Dust kicked up, making Kai cough. Someone threw a rock at Kai, catching him in the forehead. Suddenly the broken carriages burst into flame. No one would even be able to tell whose they had been by the time they were finished. The smoke quickly clouded the air. Kai stumbled as people bumped into him, desperate as they were to escape. Two men came forward to grab Kai, twisting his arms behind his back and bending him forward. Kai thought of Cinder. Was she OK? He called her name. Arman was there suddenly, laying a hand on either man that held Kai. They released him with a questioning look. Arman stared at Kai before disappearing in the smoke. Temkin was by Kai's side then.

"Your majesty, please. These police are loyal to Levana, and if they find out it was you this mob was harassing, people will be killed. He pulled on Kai's wrist, crouching to try to avoid the worst of the smoke. He led Kai over to where Torin, Scarlet, and the Khanum were clustered. Kai was relieved to see Cinder with them. The Khanum looked surprisingly composed.

"I am happy to see you here, Amul. Do you have a place for us to go? A quick journey, I think, would be to our advantage."

"Yes, my lady, but it will require you to run." He looked apologetic.

"Never mind. Let's go."

They stayed close behind Temkin until they got out of the ever increasing cloud of smoke. He quickly turned off the main road and flew down an alley, heading back for the main part of the city. After about 5 minutes, he turned into a tea house. The place was crowded and noisy, warm and close. They slipped in through the kitchen entrance unnoticed. The owner looked a bit shocked. "Amul, what…?"

"Kieu, we need your private room. Please."

The owner eyed the party behind Amul. Her eyes widened upon meeting Kai's. She handed a key to Amul without, eyes burning with curiosity.

"Thank you." He smiled gratefully. "And can you send up some tea, when you get the chance? Be discreet, of course. Some soldiers may come looking for us. It would be best if they did not intrude on our meeting."


	13. Ginger Tea

**PS. a khanum is the female version of khan, a word for ruler in Central Asia. Here it's just a local elected leader, like a mayor.**

Kieu nodded. Amul led them upstairs. Kai suddenly realized that a few of Amul's companions were with them too. They stepped into a small room on the second floor of the building. The calm inside the room was strange after the last adrenaline-filled 15 minutes. The Khanum straightened her long scarf, breathing hard. Torin's face was ashier than their carriage was sure to be by now. Cinder looked shaken. "I'm sorry," she said to Kai, "I lost control. They shifted to panic so quickly, I couldn't react in time to stop the fire or…" She reached out to touch the skin beside the cut on Kai's forehead.

He tingled at her touch. "It's nothing. Besides you did great. You let me talk to them. Thank you."

Torin spoke up. "I, for one, am extremely glad that Temkin was there. We owe you two thanks, I think. One for dispersing the crowd, and one for warning us about the police."

"What will happen to those people?" Kai asked Amul.

"As long as none of them are stupid enough to stay in the street, nothing. It is not the first carriage burning we have seen, and after it is done burning no one will recognize it as yours. There are enough around that it could belong to anyone. As long as the soldiers do not suspect that it was yours, they will probably not look too closely at the matter."

"How did Levana get them on her side?"

"Well, her mutants come and train in their base every now and then. I think fear, coupled with bribes to keep them happy, is a powerful motivator. She may even glamour them, I'm not sure. You know, for someone who came to this country not two months ago, she has quite the network of spies and connections."

Kai's jaw flexed. He knew Levana had been spying on his country for far longer than she had been here. Apparently Amul knew it too. But he hadn't realized the extent of it. "So it's true that her mutants have been raiding cities?"

"I'm afraid so."

* * *

A girl came in then, carrying a large tray of saucers and mugs, along with a kettle. Amul gestured for everyone to sit a low table. Kai settled himself between Cinder and Torin, crossing his legs and sinking onto the bright silks and scarves that covered the floor. The tea was laid out, and they all drank, trying to calm down and regroup.

"I am sorry that I cannot make you the ginger tea myself, as you requested, Highness. Your father did love it, as did your doctor. I must admit, when your guard here said those words to me, I hoped that Erland might even be here. Alas. I hope he has not become a victim of recent events?"

"Dr. Erland is well, though preoccupied at the moment. And I'm sure I would have loved your tea," he smiled, "but it wasn't I who requested it."

Amul looked taken aback. Kai motioned towards Cinder, and Amul's eye shifted to her.

Taking a breath, Cinder let her glamour fade. Amul's eye widened and his companions drew in breaths and hissed as Cinder and Scarlet resumed their usual appearances. The Khanum's mouth fell open. Amul regarded Scarlet. "Miss," he said, "you are a rare breed. I have never known a Lunar to willingly show me herself in a mirror. That is what intrigued me so about you. And so it turns out that you weren't talking about the Emperor after all! I must say, with that knife you look just about as intimidating as before, perhaps due to the contrast of such innocent beauty carrying such a blade."

Scarlet scowled at him. "I'm no innocent. And I'm not the Lunar here."

Amul's eyes fell back on Cinder, while his companions gawked over Scarlet's blade and took out their own, excitedly comparing with her.

"I seem to recognize you, sister. Are you the Lunar cyborg that has been wreaking such havoc on our government?"

"I am." Cinder glanced nervously at Kai, who smiled at her. The two turned back to look at Amul.

"Ah so that explains his little speech on cyborgs," one of Amul's friends laughed, eyeing the interaction between Cinder and Kai. "You should have seen the reaction on people's in that crowd, Temkin!" Kai's ears glowed.

"Hush, John. Next time I ask you to keep an eye on Arman's crowd, tell me sooner when he's up to something stupid! I swear, that boy will be the death of me," Amul muttered. "So, _Cinder_, I believe I heard the Emperor call?" He leaned forward, his voice turning darker. "How is it that a cyborg Lunar refugee came to hear about my ginger tea?"

Cinder laughed when she realized he was teasing her. "It's Linh Cinder. I found you through Emperor Kai, actually. I am travelling with the Emperor to talk to people like you," Cinder paused and turned to the Khanum, "and you in cities around the Commonwealth."

"Why?" asked the Khanum.

"Because the Emperor trusts you. And from you, we can find more allies, spread the word, gain support."

"And who is 'we'?"

"You have heard of the Lunar Resistance?"

The Khanum and Amul looked at each other. "Do you mean the one that makes these?" Amul drew a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and smoothed it in front of them. It was a early picture of the Bio that Cress had posted online, a crescent moon stamped proudly in the corner so that people knew it was the Resistance's.

"Well, that's a bit of an outdated model right now, but yeah. We call them Bios."

"And do they really work?" Amul was excited now.

"I think I can vouch for that," Kai said. He pulled down the neck of his tunic, revealing the scars still evident from his surgery.

The Khanum and Amul examined Kai in wonder. Then the Khanum laughed. "My dear Emperor, you have been living with Levana all this time with her unable to glamour you? Has she noticed?"

"It hasn't quite been two weeks, actually, since I had the surgery. So far, she has noticed nothing, but I am free of her manipulation completely."

* * *

"Incredible." The Khanum turned to Cinder. "So what does the Lunar Resistance want with our city?"

"We want you to join us. We'd like to set up a base here. We would manufacture Bios and sell them at cheap prices to your people. We would use this as a communication point and a center for spreading knowledge about us. And we would like to use this as a place to sneak aircraft out of the country as well as to stock up on food and supplies."

Amul and the Khanum exchanged another glance. "He can tell you more about the currents of information and communication that pass though here," said the Khanum, "But as far as food goes, we really can't afford to restock an underground resistance movement. In the little more than a week since the AU put sanctions against the Commonwealth, our food supplies have tightened. Mostly because the Western Provinces are snapping up what is here before their own supplies dwindle too low. And how exactly are you planning to sneak aircraft out of the country from Kashgar? You realize we're in the middle of the Commonwealth?"

"I do realize it, but this is a major air hub, and once you're up there, with a little bioelectricity…" Cinder waved her hand over her teacup and it disappeared from view. The Khanum and Amul inhaled sharply. Kai, who could still see the teacup plain as day, bumped her lightly on the shoulder, rolling his eyes. She grinned a little, meeting his gaze. "And Emperor Kai has agreed to facilitate our… _borrowing _of some royal planes. As to the food and fuel," Cinder searched out Scarlet's eyes, "perhaps we could just use this as a storage point. It's even possible we could bootleg some things in from the AU for Kashgar. Although with any luck, that won't be necessary after the Emperor's visit there." Scarlet nodded.

"In that case, I think we could begin to set up a place to make the bios and a storage center at least."

"Excellent," Cinder said. "That way, if we start gaining support here, we can make sure our supporters will not be manipulated. And the second reason we wanted Kashgar—" she looked over at Kai, and he picked up her sentence.

"Is because Kashgar has most of the news for the whole country pass through it at one time or another. As you might have seen before, a lot of my country feels like I've abandoned it at the moment," Kai winced, "and I'd like to spread the message that there is hope, and that I am working on it."

Amul nodded. "Gaining support will be easy enough. People don't like Levana here. And when they realize they can gain protection from Lunars, I think they will be sold. It's just a matter of discreetly spreading the word. Which, as you've discovered, is easily done over a cup of tea."

"One thing though," Cinder said. "As you spread the word, please try to break that stereotype about Lunars. Just because our leadership is manipulative and power-hungry does not mean we all are. Most Lunars don't even have the power to control someone. People who want to help must be willing to look past differences and work _with_ Lunars."

"Oh? But how do I know that the stereotype is false? How do I know you are not power-seeking? That you are not manipulating me right now?"

Cinder gritted her teeth. "You don't."

"She's not." Kai spoke at the same time. Cinder glanced at him. He took a breath. "I know that it can be unnerving not to be certain that your thoughts are your own, but the Bios will take care of that entirely. And every Lunar I've met outside of Levana and her thaumaturges has shown kindness, humility, and a loyalty which I have not always deserved." Never mind that he had only met 2 Lunars besides Levana and her crowd.

* * *

Amul grunted. "You're an optimist, boy. How you managed that with _him_ for an advisor…" He jerked a thumb towards Torin, and Kai grinned. "I guess I shouldn't be too surprised though. You have the same spirit that Rikan had. It's good for the country. We'll need it if we ever get out of this mess." He looked back at the picture of the Bio. "Who designed this machine?"

"My stepfather." Cinder piped up.

"And who was that?"

"Linh Garan."

Amul's gaze snapped up. "You were adopted by a man named Garan?"

Cinder exchanged a glance with Kai at Amul's sudden interest. "Yes."

"How old are you?"

"16."

"When were you adopted?" Amul was staring at her, transfixed, eyes sweeping her features.

"Um. Age 11." She was hesitant.

His face fell a bit, before he asked, "What about your life before that?"

Cinder met Scarlet's eyes now. "I—I um. Had an accident. Don't remember any of my life before my adoption."

He regarded her carefully. "You weren't by any chance brought from France to New Beijing by train shortly after your adoption?"

"Um, yes."

He stood now, practically emitting emotion and energy. "My dear girl, do you have any idea who you are?"

Cinder gaped at him, as did her companions. How had he made the connection? "_I_ do. Do you?"

"Princess," he swept her a bow. "I never thought I would get the chance to meet you. It is an honor, truly. I helped Garan get you from Europe to New Beijing while keeping a low profile. Talked to some friends working the border. But I never actually met him or knew anything about him. I was just friends with Michelle Benoit. So. It actually worked. How did you find out who you were? Oh, forgive me, friends," he addressed everyone in the room, "We have before us Princess Selene herself, Luna's lost princess."

Cinder was taken aback.

Scarlet spoke before Cinder could. "You knew my grandmother?" When Amul looked at her confusedly, she added, "I'm Scarlet Benoit."

He and the Khanum laughed. "She was my classmate at boarding school when we were young," said the Khanum.

Cinder's head spun. Was it a conspiracy? How many people had been involved with her escape from Luna?

"So, when did you find out? Did Garan just tell you one day?"

"No, he died shortly after we came from Europe. Dr. Erland was the one who told me. He found me through the cyborg draft and ran my DNA against Selene's. Or against mine, I guess."

"Hah! I didn't know he was looking for you. I could have pointed him in the right direction. But how is Erland involved with the Lunar Resistance?"

"He wasn't, at the time. He just wanted to find me and save his planet by reinstating me as queen."

"What?" Amul looked shocked now. "_His _planet? Erland was Lunar?"

"Yes. Now he's with us. The Resistance, I mean. He's in Africa researching the plague. I rescued his daughter from Luna as well – although that was before I knew they were related – and she is working with us too."

Amul laughed in amazement. "Well, and now you have all found each other. The second generation, if you will. Khanum, I think we better help these kids. Seems like they're the ones to be involved with."

"Agreed," said the Khanum, smiling warmly at Scarlet.

Scarlet held up two rings of pewter then. "Here, this is for you." She handed the rings to the Khanum and Amul, who looked at them curiously. "They're actually D-COMM androids, encoded with a link to my watch embedded. That, and a connection to each other is all they have. Though if you'd like," she added to Amul, "we can ask Erland if he'd like us to send you the code to his. This way we can communicate easily and securely. Please do not share the knowledge of these with anyone."

They both nodded solemnly. "We will be in touch," Cinder said. "For now we should get back to the train though. It's 10:00."

They were a bit late getting back to the train, being carriage-less, but it wouldn't leave without Kai anyway. Cinder was satisfied as they settled into place guarding Kai's door. They were getting a supply of airships, and the first base in the Commonwealth was underway.


	14. Confrontation

**Woah, long one! Sorry about that, or maybe you're happy about it, or maybe you're just pissed I made you wait... I don't know. I hope you are still enjoying the story!**

**All iz well  
~Rebecca**

They followed the same process as the train zigzagged southwest across the great expanse of the Eastern Commonwealth. The train would pull up to a station, Kai would make a speech in the public square and mingle with the people, and Scarlet and Cinder looked for potential supporters of the Lunar Resistance. They would point these people in the direction of helpful information, however they kept a far lower profile than in Kashgar and sought out no one specifically.

Scarlet, Cinder, and Wolf had planned carefully for these two days. They would not get this chance again to recruit from the Commonwealth, to pull together all the pieces they needed, and to have those pieces agree, thanks to the support of Emperor Kaito. Long conversations among the main Resistance crew had stretched into the Moroccan nights. What did they want from the Eastern Commonwealth? What could they get? Well the Emperor already said air ships were a go, and Kashgar's support is a must for that. We could ask for supplies for the ships? Yeah. Propaganda? Ummm maybe subtly. Direct support? No, are you crazy Kai's trying to appease Levana at the moment. Yeah, and that's working out so well. Hey, I'd like to see what you would do if—_Children_, maybe we can ask for food for the volunteers that keep joining up to help make Bios? I don't know, I think the Commonwealth is having trouble with food cause of the AU's sanctions… What about oil? It's difficult as is to get enough oil to make the Bios. The Commonwealth has _tons_ of oil, literally. Kashgar's not much help, but we could move production to the southwest of the Commonwealth. Hmmm, not a bad idea. It can help the local trade. And then the volunteers are in prime position to leave from Kashgar for Luna when the time comes to march on the capital. Gah, don't remind me. Come on, Scarlet, Wolf will do fine leading the charge. All we need to do is make sure everyone's mind is protected…

Kai had spent the days before leaving New Beijing talking to Torin after they'd told him the things they wanted. In the end, he agreed to shipping out planes from Kashgar, spreading word of the Resistance in general, and manufacturing Bios in the southwest.

So Tehran was the only other place where Cinder, Kai, and Scarlet sought someone out specific. The woman they found was unusual, the only foreign-born citizen to serve in both Emperor Hiro's and Emperor Rikan's courts and one of the Commwealth's most respected figures. She was still mentor to the MP which had replaced her. Kai wanted her to help organize the project to manufacture Bios. The old woman refused. She wanted to write. Poetry, she said, essays. The kind of thing that would call the people to action. As she said it, she had stood and put her cane in front of her at an angle, lifting her chin. Cinder and Scarlet, who had not revealed their true selves, had glanced at each other. The old woman had cackled when Kai's expression turned a bit bemused.

"No, lad, the fightin's fer the young. The sneakin' around and getting' in ter trouble. But don't you worry. I'll stir yer people's hearts to a passion!" And she had shaken her cane at the world, daring it to take her on.

Incredulity aside, they eventually settled on the woman's granddaughter, Arezu, whose contrast with her grandmother was comical. She would help Cress get volunteers to the Commonwealth and Bio materials to the volunteers. The girl, whose olive skin was flawless and whose brilliant green eyes had been far more observant of her emperor than necessary, would report to her grandmother. She would also keep an eye on the "batty old lady" - _wink_. And if Kai ever needed a direct report, Arezu would be more than happy to go the extra mile, she had assured him with a smile. Cinder had resisted the urge to slam the door on the way out.

* * *

Now they were almost done with Kai's last stop in Damascus. When they got back to the train, Cinder and Scarlet would sneak Kai away from his royal escort. The _Imperial Express_ would loop around the coast of Africa, letting off passengers in the major cities – including Rabat –before arriving in Lagos, Nigeria, the capital of the AU. No one would know, when it arrived, that the Emperor had not been on it for most of the time.

And then they were at the station and Torin was giving the engineer the okay to start, as three non-descript young men slipped into the jostling crowd and onto the train. If the conductor had looked closely, he might have noticed that the men's appearances didn't quite match their ID chips, but somehow his mind just glossed right over the fact.

The young men slipped into the car where Wolf had been for the past two days. One locked the door behind them. Another made sure to set a dark tint on the windows before relaxing, and the glamour slipped off the three of them.

There was an awkward moment as they all stood, trying to shuffle around each other. There was not really room for them all to stand in this compartment, but Wolf refused to sit before Cinder had and before he was given an introduction to Kai. Scarlet fell back in the seat across from Cinder, who was squished between Wolf and the window. Cinder sat too. Kai and Wolf still stood, trying to size each other up but too close to do so.

"Emperor Kai," Cinder said, hidden behind Wolf's bulk, "May I present Wolf, my ground forces commander. He's in charge of our security."

Wolf gave a solemn nod and a small smile, but Kai was still eyeing him. "You're one of Levana's soldiers?" His gaze paused on Wolf's exposed teeth.

"Was." Wolf said quietly.

Kai grinned a little. "You have good reason to fight her then." Here he stuck out his hand for Wolf to shake. "It's good to meet you, Commander."

Wolf hesitantly took Kai's hand, but made the gesture more formal by bowing low over it. Finally Kai sat on the remaining seat next to Scarlet, who was already starting to nod sleepily.

The air hung silently between them for a minute.

Then Kai started, "Um. So. Wolf. Uh, you grew up on Luna?"

"Yes."

"What is life like there?"

Wolf fixed him with a baleful stare. "Hard." Typical Wolf, but Cinder was getting annoyed with the attitude.

"Do you—"

"Wolf," she interrupted Kai, "I think we should give you a run through of what happened out there. We met a few interesting people…"

* * *

A few hours later they were rushing by Tripoli. Scarlet's sleep schedule continued to defy all norms of waking and sleeping. Though she tried to stay awake to help fill in Wolf, she clearly needed to sleep. Cinder was anxiously getting Wolf's opinions on her crowd-control issues.

"It's terrifying, honestly. When there's a crowd, there's so many different thoughts and moods and emotions, and the more people there are, the harder it gets to control. And that's just with a crowd! Forget a mob. I was so scared. That's the first time I've been the last line of defense, and I couldn't handle it."

"I disagree. You held them off when they were ruled by emotions. It was only when they were in danger and instinct took over that you lost control. They panicked. The same thing happened with me and Jael. When he crossed my instincts, I was able to fight his power. So I think you did pretty well."

"Thanks," Cinder said, "but if we'd gotten killed in their panic, it wouldn't have mattered how well I did. I need more practice with crowds."

"Do you think you're getting too used to my pack's consciousnesses? Maybe you need some more variety…"

They lapsed abruptly into silence when Scarlet's head finally drooped down to rest on Kai's shoulder, her normally tense face now utterly slack. Kai looked down at her in surprise. Cinder watched as he gave a small smile and adjusted so that she would not fall off. She reflected for a moment on how truly odd a royal Kai was. People get killed and kidnapped wandering around the way he did. People catch the plague by having friends like he did—friends like her. How many princes would make friends with mechanics? How many emperors would let dusty, sweaty, foreign peasants fall asleep on their shoulders?

Wolf was clearly not as touched by the gesture as Cinder. A low warning sounded in his throat. Kai looked up, his smile fading and his eye widening. He made to wake Scarlet up and shift away from her.

At that, Wolf's warning increased quickly to an audible growl, and Kai froze.

From the corner of his eye, Kai could see Cinder trying very hard not to grin.

Kai leaned back where he had been, being exceptionally careful to neither disturb Scarlet nor look at her. He met Cinder's eyes, fear in his own, and she pressed her lips together more tightly, managing not to laugh. For the next hour, Wolf watched him closely as Scarlet slept on his shoulder. Kai sat stiffly, starting determinedly at the passing scenery or his own shoes and glancing at Cinder every now and then with a pleading look.

The train jostled them when they were pulling out of a station and Scarlet woke up. She stretched and blushed a little upon realizing where she had been. She muttered apologies to Kai who just squeaked out something about it being no big deal. Wolf took her hand then and they left for the dining room.

* * *

Kai dove across the tiny space for the now vacated seat beside Cinder, landing like he just escaped a crazed enemy in hot pursuit. He breathed in relief, and could still see Cinder trying to contain herself. He made a show of wiping sweat from his brow for her. She burst out laughing. Kai glared at her, which only made her laugh harder, grasping at the windowsill for support.

Begrudgingly, Kai started chuckling along with her. When they had both calmed down, Kai sighed.

"That is the last time I let new acquaintances fall asleep on my shoulder."

"You usually make a habit of it, hmm?" Cinder choked, still amused.

Kai rolled his eyes at her. "You didn't tell me they were dating."

She nodded. "Yeah, sorry. Never come between a wolf and its mate. I learned that one the hard way too."

Kai stared at her. "You and… Wolf?"

"Oh, no! No," she laughed, "nothing like that. When I first came across Scarlet and Wolf, I thought he was trying to kill her, so I shot him with a tranquilizer. He didn't make a big deal of it when he first woke up, but you should have seen his reaction when he realized how much danger I had put Scarlet in by doing so. I don't envy people who really get on Wolf's bad side."

Kai's eyes were round. "You shot him?"

"Only with a tranquilizer. Scarlet shot him with a real gun. The one she showed you the other day, actually."

He laughed in disbelief now. "She shot him, and he still likes her?"

"Privileges of being a mate, I guess."

"Mate, huh? Hmmm. A Lunar-Earthen and a Wolf-man. Interesting." He thought for a moment. "It's kinda funny how different pieces seem to fit together, huh?"

Cinder coughed a bit uncomfortably, and changed topics. "Speaking of mismatched couples" she said, "How are _things_ going? Back in New Beijing?"

Kai's whole face changed. He wished she had not brought this up. He blanched white. He did not want to talk to Cinder about being married to Levana, nor did he have any idea how to. It took him a minute, but his voice was flippant when he spoke. "You know, I resent that. I think we're quite a good couple—so much in common! We're both rulers of the Eastern Commonwealth. We're both mildly terrified of Dr. Erland, and completely terrified of you. We're interested in the same stuff…"

Cinder raised an eyebrow at him. "The same stuff?"

"Oh yeah, well," Kai continued his tone, "You know we've both been getting very involved in Lunar activism lately. She has a more hands-on approach than I do. Though I'm sure it will bring us closer in the end, or maybe just closer _to_ the end."

He chuckled when Cinder refused to smile at his black humor.

"Seriously. Are you OK?"

He sighed and scratched his neck. "Honestly, I'm happy to still be walking around at this point. She's running about the palace taking control of everything she possibly can. I'm worried, Cinder." His brow creased. "I guess I shouldn't expect to survive this whole thing, but I want to know that things will turn out all right." It was true. He had come to terms with the fact that if it came down to it, he would sacrifice himself for this cause.

"Hey, that's not true." Cinder looked at him with concern. "You'll survive. We'll all be okay. You made it this far didn't you?" She paused, voice curious again. "How did you manage to convince her not to kill you, anyway? Did you promise her something? Does she trust you now?"

Kai coughed uncomfortably. "Ahh…" he looked down and scratched his neck again, "No, um, I wouldn't say she really trusts me. And I, uh, no I didn't quite promise her anything. Um."

Cinder watched him curiously. Kai knew that he should tell her. After all, what happened with him and Levana could affect the whole Resistance. But as she watched him he began to feel more and more like a trapped rabbit.

Kai sighed. "She… she wants me to give her an heir." His head hung.

Crickets. Tiny crickets with soft tiny socks wrapped around their legs could not be quieter.

Cinder stared at him in blank shock, and then revulsion started creeping in to her expression. Her mouth bobbed open like a fish's.

"What."

"Hehe…" He tried to laugh, but it was painful.

"You aren't serious." He just ducked his head further. "You… you haven't… I mean…?"

"God no. _Stars_ no. I—," he shook his head, running a hand threw his hair, "I managed to convince her to give me time on that front. I honestly was not expecting that… request."

"Um. Yeah."

* * *

"I guess I can't fault her for wanting an heir. I mean, doesn't every ruler, at some point?" Stars, how did he manage to come up with the most awkward things around her? "I mean, she's spent so long building this iron empire of hers. I suppose it's natural that she clings to it so hard. That she's so quick to use her gift to preserve it." Kai was thoughtful.

Cinder eyed him with some alarm now. "Are you defending her?" Her voice was quiet.

Kai was taken aback. "No, I'm not _defending_ her. I'm just… trying to understand a little more. Aren't I supposed to be doing that? Understanding her? Figuring out her weaknesses?"

"Understanding her weaknesses doesn't mean you should be sympathetic to them. After all, everyone has weaknesses, but look what she's chosen to do with hers."

"I wouldn't call it sympathetic. I mean, yeah, it's hard to be completely heartless when you start to get to know someone. I just think she's afraid. You know she has this horrible burn across the right side of her face?"

"Probably from when she burned me and my mother alive." Cinder didn't give Kai a chance to respond before she continued, "And _heartless?_ Your Highness, do you realize who you're talking about?"

The formal title stung, coming from her lips. Kai threw her a look. "Come on, _Selene_. I'm just trying to figure her out. Can you not understand why I would want to come to terms with why someone has used the Lunar gift on me? Why someone has lied to and manipulated me?" His voice was wry and flat, but Cinder still flinched.

"I thought you believed me when I said I hadn't manipulated you."

"I did. But I barely had time to turn around back in New Beijing before you were gone again. I didn't get to talk to you about it. And you still lied about who you—"

"I explained that!" Her voice was choked.

"I know. And I believe you—I do. But can you imagine how it was to have been dancing with you one minute, and not five minutes later find you at the bottom of the palace steps like…?"

"Can you imagine what it was like to lie there?"

Kai winced. "I know—"

"Do you?"

"It's just that it was a lot to take in. It wasn't what I was expecting. You're just—"

"Lunar? Cyborg?"

"No! No," Kai floundered at Cinder's obvious anger, "just different than what I thought is all."

She snarled out her next words. "And so, because I'm so _different_, you have to figure me out. To _come to terms_ with what I am, just like you do with Levana?"

Oh, this hurt. Stabbed Kai right through to his insecurities because honestly, he _wasn't_ sure if he could deal with the fact that she was Lunar. But it broke him a little to see the anguish on her angled, feminine features.

"That's not fair. You know it doesn't mean nothing that I found out what you are. If it did, you would have told me, wouldn't you? But you hid it from me." She looked like he had slapped her. "I'm not saying you're like Levana. Although, I do think you need to be more careful about how you use that gift—"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were going to manipulate that crowd in Kashgar into forgetting their complaints. Just like what they do on Luna. How could we claim to be better than them if we did that?"

"I was just trying to protect you and everyone else there—including them!"

"But where's the line between safety and freedom?"

"I'm doing my best, here, OK? It's not exactly as easy as turning your hand over, you know."

"I realize that, I just think it shows how dangerous it can be to use the Lunar gift…"

Cinder had had enough. She stood, and pulled something quickly from her suitcase before flapping it in Kai's face. "You told me you had feelings for me before you figured out what I was. Well, who's the liar now? Because either you were lying or those were been pretty damn weak feelings to have disappeared just because you found out I have a few metal pieces and a Lunar gift."

Kai blushed to the roots of his hair. She dropped what she was holding in his lap and stalked out of the compartment. He looked down to find the remaining glove from the pair he had given her, back when those feelings were uncomplicated by politics. Or less complicated, anyway.

* * *

Kai pulled his sweatshirt over his head and rushed after Cinder. She was already at the other end of one of the sitting cars. That accursed gift of hers! It let her move too quickly. He tried to be subtle as he squeezed through the people. He made it to the other end in time to grasp Cinder's wrist, speaking her name. She squeaked when she saw him and pushed him into the little space that divided the train cars from one another. A group of teenagers was sneaking out the door next to them and up the ladder to the top of the train. Cinder dragged Kai after them.

Outside, you could truly feel how fast the train was travelling. At least it wasn't one of the high-speed trains out of Shanghai, Kai thought. But this train stopped so often that that wouldn't have made sense anyway. The teens settled themselves in a tight circle on top of the train car, and started playing with a deck of cards, passing around sunflower seeds and a smuggled bottle of alcohol.

Kai and Cinder sat a little ways off, the whistling wind hiding their words.

"What were you thinking?" Cinder hissed at him. "You weren't glamoured."

Kai stared at her. Anger and hurt were written across her face, replacing the panic at having found him wandering through a crowded car in his true form, when the Emperor was supposed to be in his private car at the other end of the train. Kai still held her wrist in his hand.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Look, I know this hard. For both of us. But we have to trust each other, right?" He took a deep breath. "You're cyborg. I could care less. I called off the draft for you, Cinder. I mean, also cause I thought it was the right thing to do, but mostly for you." He paused here for a moment. "You're Lunar. I—I'm sorry that it's taking me some time to wrap my head around that. Really sorry. It's not that I don't trust you, I… It's just going to take me a bit to rewire how I think about Lunars. Is that okay? I don't want to hurt you. I've just… thought that way about Lunars my whole life. Feared them, I guess. But maybe you can help me get past that?" He looked at her hopefully. Her expression had softened. He smiled encouragingly, and her brow lost its crinkle. "Tell me what it's like to have the gift."

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Or what it's like to be cyborg. I don't know that either."

Cinder looked down and sighed. Finally she met his eyes again and gave him a small smile. "The gift is… really strange. I feel out of control sometimes…."

* * *

They talked in this way for a while. Kai did not notice as his grip relaxed more until he was holding her hand instead of her wrist, but Cinder did. It made her stomach flutter, as did his rapt attention as he tried to learn what makes cyborgs and Lunars tick. Eventually, Cinder chuckled at him.

"What?"

"You're so earnest, Kai." She laughed fully now.

He tilted his head at her, considering.

"You know, you use my name against me."

"What?"

"My name. You use it as a weapon. When we're friends, I'm 'Kai.' When we're around others and the heavens forbid anyone think we're anything but professionals, I'm 'Emperor Kaito.' When you're pissed at me, I'm 'Your Highness.'"

"Ahh." Cinder laughed nervously, tugging at her ponytail. "Do I do that?"

"Do you know how many people call me Kai?"

"Um."

"One. You, Cinder." He studied her thoughtfully. "Most people don't bother to look past the title, you know?" He looked away and over the endless desert to their left, then the Mediterranean Sea to their right. "Those that do are usually just looking to gain favor. They're false. It's not as though I have no friends, but still. There's a wall there with them. They still call me 'Highness' or 'Emperor' or something like that. And then there's you…" He smirked to himself.

"Kai." She gave his hand a squeeze and he looked up to meet her gaze before withdrawing his hand. "I'm sorry. I guess I haven't been that easy on you, either, have I?"

He threw his head back and laughed. Cinder smiled, a little embarrassed. "But I think I can handle sticking to 'Kai' from now on."

He flashed her a winning smile. "Does that make us friends, then?"

She laughed. "I guess so."

He looked at her meaningfully then. "Even in front of the others?"

Cinder hesitated. "I guess, if you're okay with that, then I can be too. But it might mean that the others in the Resistance will start calling you 'Kai' as well."

Kai grinned. "The more the merrier."

"Hey!" A voice called over the wind. It was one of the kids from the group playing cards beside them. "We need two more to play Zhao Pengyou. You guys want in?"

Cinder and Kai looked at each other. "Yeah, sounds like fun." They walked over to sit on the teens' blanket, introducing themselves as a couple of friends just passing through.


	15. Earthen Boys

**Wow I am feeling particularly long-winded these days. Please someone tell me if I need to rein it in.**

**Also: First actual constructive feedback on what to put in the story! Austin Ally Ship, you get a gold star. I will try for more romance next time just for you.**

Thorne stood at the back of a small, dark room, his long frame outlined in the rectangle of light coming through the doorway. He shifted distastefully away from the damp stone of the wall behind him, stepping forward and splaying his hands on a wooden table. He tapped one finger nervously.

"You see here," Dr. Dmitri Erland was saying, gesturing at the image projected on the wall opposite from Thorne, "all the isolated instances of Letumosis. These were the first to crop up in their respective areas. They are completely random. Highly unusual for a plague, highly unusual. Now, we know we know why they cropped up in seemingly impossible areas. The Lunar Migration of course. Darling, could you please put up the data that you gathered from your troops of volunteers?"

From over in the corner came a rapid series of clicks. Thorne watched the pretty blond type away madly at the laptop in front of her, tongue between her teeth and short, wavy hair fanning out in all directions, including up. Thorne smiled. The effects of gravity seemed to have been permanently lost on those soft locks. His hands flexed. No matter how many times he ran his fingers through them.

The screen recaptured his attention when a series of purple dots joined the red ones already there. "Here are the first entry places of all of the Lunars currently engaged with the Lunar Resistance on Earth, or the first entry places of their first ancestors to come to Earth. Because the Lunar Migration has really only picked up in the last half century, we can assume these details are close to accurate. Our sample size is limited to Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, so we will zoom in on this area. Crescent?" Erland nodded to the girl in the corner, who hit a button on her laptop, and the world map up on the wall narrowed to the area Dr. Erland had mentioned.

"Dmitri, you can't make conclusions by drawing correlation between where Lunars live and the instances of Letumosis," came Remus's voice, "We already know that we are the carriers of this disease."

"Ah," said Dr. Erland, finger and eyebrows waggling in time with each other, "Don't be so very certain. Crescent Moon, can you please drop all those points which are ten years or younger?"

A significant number of purple dots fell away from the wall, leaving the remaining purple dots clustered around the major cities for the most part.

"Yes," said Remus tiredly, "we used to smuggle people in to the major cities only. We changed tactics when we realized that this made it too easy for Luna to track down the refugees."

"Yes. You will notice that there is no correlation among these points here and the instances of Letumosis. None whatsoever. I am correct?" He turned to Cress for confirmation, who clicked up an utterly-unpatterned graph of red and purple points with a nod and then returned the map to the wall.

"This does not tell us much, except that it is curious that none of the Lunars who came to Earth over ten years ago had any trace of Letumosis. But here," tap, tap, tap, "are the Lunars who came to Earth starting ten years back. Now my mother's turkey dinner would not be surprised to learn that there is greater correlation between these points and the Letumosis incidence." Tap, tap, tap. Another graph showing greater correlation. Flash back to the map.

"Of course." Remus said, frustrated. "And they all hate Levana, and few are in major cities, and they aren't sure if they were carriers of the disease or where they passed it. Do we not all know this?"

"You know," Thorne said, walking around the table, "Most aren't in major cities, but it looks like at least some came through far more _official_ channels than I expected. See here?" He pointed to a spot in Eastern Europe. "There's a small military base here. I wouldn't think civilians could pass through that, but based on the spread of the points around it, I'd guess that's where they landed."

Remus frowned, walking closer to Thorne and the map. "We would not have landed them near a military base. That's foolish. But we are not the only curriers."

"No," said Cress, "but your family has been such a huge part of the movement from Luna to Earth, saving so many lives. Remus, how many of these purple points do you think represent people brought to Earth by you, or your father, or one of your cousins?"

"Oh… half?"

"67.2%. Given, you are the major currier in Europe, but that's still huge. So I went through your data books, and—"

"You went through my things?" "You were in his room?" "Well done, my girl."

Cress smiled sweetly.

"How did you get in my room?"

"A girl has her ways." She batted her lashes. "Anyway, I went through your books and I figured out all of the Lunars that were curried by your family." Tap, tap, tap, and 67.2% of the purple dots on the screen suddenly turned blue, before they disappeared. "What's left are those not curried by you, and now—" tappity tap, "—from my own research, all the Lunars who came in the last 10 years, not curried by your family, who are bioelectrically challenged. There is significant correlation among these points and the Letumosis points." She clicked another button, and beneath the map this time another graph appeared. "Just look at that regression line." Cress sniffed. "A thing of beauty."

"You are so nerding-out right now." Thorne smirked at her.

"So what are you saying?" Remus asked. "That shells who somehow made it to Earth without proper curriers are responsible for the Blue Fever?"

Cress gave him a haughty look. "Yes. Not only that, but the _bioelectrically challenged_ by far and away came through channels other than you. Remus, do you know how many of the Lunars you curried were bioelectrically challenged?"

"8%."

"Exactly. While 72% of those not curried by you are bioelectrically challenged. And they're a near perfect match with the Letumosis incidence. They carried the plague to Earth. The question is, why them? And why did they avoid your currying services in general?"

"They came through government channels," Thorne said, seeing patterns around the dots on the map now. "There are small military bases here, and here, and here. I've stolen fro—er, visited, a few of them." He felt his stomach sinking as he began to understand.

"Precisely," Dr. Erland clipped. "This points to the conclusion that someone has been deliberately sending Letumosis-infected, bioelectrically challenged Lunars to strategic locations around Earth for the past 10 years. This is not a plague. This is biological warfare. And I am willing to—"

* * *

"Doctor." Everyone in the room paused, their attention turning to the doorway.

"Commander Wolf. It's good to see you've returned safely."

Wolf's hulking frame was suddenly in the doorway. "Cress, Remus," he nodded to the two, "Thorne, Cinder wants to see you. She will introduce you to the Emperor."

"Don't sound too pleased that he's here, buddy." Thorne patted Wolf on the arm. Wolf grunted. "OK, I'll go do my duty." He shook himself as he walked away, smoothing the knowledge that he had just learned away from his forehead. He would put it away for later thought. Luckily, he was incredibly good at that, and none of those ugly thoughts would mar his expression just now.

He wandered up through the ancient rooms of the Kasbah des Oudaias, Rabat's old rock fortress that sat near where the Bouregreg River opened into the Atlantic Ocean. The unkempt walls and courtyard really only served as a tourist attraction for Rabat, Morocco these days. Which was a shame, as there was quite a lot of unused space within the large fortress. And right near downtown and the flea market, where large amounts of people might wander in and out of the fortress and disappear in the vibrant streets. Only people that were told ventured into the lower rooms of the Kasbah. Others, even if they approached, curiously found that they lost all interest once they got near certain hallways. If they had wandered in, they would have seen not empty, dark, dank rooms, but thrumming, busy, still-dank rooms. Thorne wrinkled his nose. The whole place stank of sea water, especially down in these lower rooms. It wasn't until you stood on the highest points that you could feel the fresh breeze and lose your gaze over the horizon. The mayor of the city had agreed to lease this building to them, for Erland's research on the plague. He didn't know that since that day they had grown into a multinational underground resistance force and that his stone fortress now housed a manufacturing facility, a research effort, and a think tank that might just change the course of history. The mayor was a nervous little man. He knew who Dr. Erland had been in the Commonwealth, and he feared getting caught, but Thorne knew they wouldn't. Cinder was more powerful than even she realized. He was glad she was back. He had missed her, for all her worrying and nagging.

Thorne found Cinder and the Emperor strolling unhurriedly in one of the enclosed courtyards. Their heads were inclined towards each other. He snorted. They were too obvious. He walked up to them.

"Thorne!"

"Hey, Princess." He grinned and swept her into a hug, not missing the scathing royal look he was getting for it. He held her back at arms-length and made a show of looking her up and down. "Well you seem to be in one piece. Good. Then I won't have to hold anyone responsible." His voice teased, and he flicked his eyes to Kai once quickly.

Cinder laughed lightly, and let him go to gesture to the Emperor. "Thorne, I'd like you to meet—" here she paused for a moment to look up into the guy's eyes, seeming uncertain for a second before she finished, "Kai," warmly. "Kai, this is Captain Thorne."

Kai sized Thorne up, and clearly did not like what he saw. "Funny, I had thought it was _Cadet_ Thorne. Must have been my mistake. Sorry about that." He held out his hand, but his tone didn't suggest contrition.

"Not at all," Thorne said, matching his tone. Okay, so he knew the kid had it bad, but he didn't appreciate the attempt to knock him down a peg. He stood about as tall as the boy. He took Kai's hand and squeezed, hard. The Emperor was surprisingly strong for having such delicate royal hands.

Thorne turned to Cinder. "Cinder, you'd better get down to the conference room. Erland has some information I think you're gonna want to hear."

"OK. I just finished showing Kai the manufacturing facilities. Can you show him around a bit more, and go over the plan for the Commonwealth planes and our air maneuvers in general?"

"Sure."

She smiled. "Great!" Then she turned to Kai. "I'll see you later."

"Bye, then." He watched Cinder leave, and then eyed Thorne, clearly not pleased with the change in company.

* * *

"Come on." Thorne turned and walked away while Kai followed reluctantly. He didn't care that the report Cinder was talking about was downstairs in his sleeping quarters. Right now he needed to be up high, and anyway, Kai had really not been shown around the base until he was treated to that view.

They walked up a few staircases in silence and then came out a doorway along an upper walkway with a parapet on either side. He and Cress had set up a little fridge and table with a couple of chairs at one end so they could spend time up here. Thorne knew Cress loved it here too, though not because it reminded her of flying. Cress hated air ships. Or ships. Or just enclosed in spaces in general. But she loved the endless freedom of the sky and the sea, and here they found common ground. Though Kai was still disgruntled, Thorne could tell that he was reasonably impressed. Thorne walked over to the little fridge, pulled out two beers, plopped one in front of Kai, and fell back into a chair, popping his beer open on the edge of the stone parapet. Kai did not move.

"Have a drink."

"I'd rather not." Kai eyed the beverage with distaste.

Thorne shook his head. "Kai—"

"I think I'd prefer you to use my title."

Now Thorne was exasperated. "_Kai_," he emphasized, "Look. I'm flattered. Really I am. But I'm not your competition."

Kai blinked, and his brow furrowed.

Thorne rolled his eyes, and then gave Kai a knowing smile. "You don't have to worry about me. You have my sympathies though. She's a tough one to nail down to anything, our little princess."

Kai looked surprised. His ears turned a bit red and his mouth opened slightly like he would respond, but nothing came out.

Thorne used his foot to push out the second chair towards Kai. "C'mon, man. Have a seat."

Kai hesitated for another moment, before he sank into the chair, chagrined. "Thanks."

"Hey, no problem."

"Um, sorry, about…"

"Nah, don't worry about it. I take it as a compliment, actually." Thorne flashed a brilliant smile. "I mean, you've got a good 6th of the women on the planet swooning over you. If I can make the Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth jealous, I must be doing something right, huh?"

Kai chuckled. "And how obvious is it that of those 3 billion women, she's the only one I'm interested in?"

"Pretty obvious. But I don't think it is to her." Thorne paused, curious. "Seriously, though, she hasn't… given you any encouragement? I mean you _are_ an emperor." He knew Cinder had feelings for Kai in return, maybe better than she did. But he wasn't about to give her away. He was just curious to see if she had done anything about it yet.

Kai laughed. "Cinder? Just enough to keep me guessing." Thorne snickered. Kai shook his head. "Plus, the situation is… complicated. If things work out the ways they're _supposed_ to, we'll be ruling different countries. That doesn't exactly make for great conditions to get to know a person. And that's the best case! If things don't work out… Well. One or both of us will be dead."

Thorne whistled low. They were both silent for a minute.

Kai reached over suddenly for the beer still sitting in front of him, cracked it open, and took a sip, grimacing at the flavor. Thorne laughed. He reached forward to clink Kai's bottle with his own.

"Cheers, man. That's rough."

Kai took another sip. "A relationship in the meantime wouldn't help. Things are already so precarious." He looked down.

"You know, though, I find that the best things in life often come out of tricky situations. I think that's all the more reason to go for it. You two aren't stupid. One relationship isn't going to mess up the whole resistance. And life's short. You can't spend it denying everything you want. What use will you be as a ruler if you don't take care of yourself sometimes?

Kai tilted his head thoughtfully at Thorn. "You know, you are really not what I expected."

Thorne grinned. "Really? You didn't think we'd be such great friends?" His eyes twinkled. Kai laughed.

"First time I heard of you was when they showed me your picture and told me Cinder had run away with you. I hated you from the first moment I saw you." Thorne started laughing with Kai at that.

Kai gestured to Thorne with his beer, taking another swig. "What about you? Do you have a girl around here somewhere?"

"Ah," Thorne said, waxing poetic, "the trail of the women I have loved goes all around this Earth." He smirked. "Litera—oof."

* * *

Cress had appeared out of nowhere and smacked Thorne on the back of the head on her way to the fridge. She muttered audibly. "_All around this earth_, honestly, Thorne."

"Ahaha," Thorne laughed a tad guiltily, "Well you know, it's true," he told her. "Satellites do orbit the earth. Um, Kai, have you met our programmer, Crescent Moon?"

She shot him a look as she returned to the table with a glass of mango juice. She smiled warmly at Kai.

"Hello, Kai. It's lovely to finally have you with us. Cinder's told us a lot about you. Call me Cress. I think you know my father, Dmitri Erland?"

Kai smiled too. "Hi Cress. Yes, I owe a lot to your father. He is greatly missed back in New Beijing. Though I'm certain he's happy to be reunited with his daughter."

"Oh yes! He thought Queen Levana had killed me, you know. I am bioelectrically challenged."

"A Lunar without magic," Kai said.

"Without bioelectricity, yes. On Luna, all such children are taken from their parents once they are old enough that they should have manifested their gift. Popular thought is that they are executed, and in fact many are. But there are some of us whom Queen Levana and her Thaumaturges use as slaves. I had skill with programming, and so I was locked in a satellite to serve Sibyl, my mother and Levana's head Thaumaturge. It wasn't because of my status—Sibyl cared nothing for me as a daughter. I cannot tell you what happened to the others that are not killed, although I think we're starting to figure it out…"

"Wait, _what_? Sibyl is your mother? As in, spied-on-my-android Sibyl? I'll-blind-a-woman-cause-Levana-told-me-to Sibyl? _That_ Sibyl? She is your _mother_? And Dr. Erland's… wife…"

Cress looked confused, and a bit mortified. "Why yes," she stammered. "Oh I am so sorry. I thought that you knew… Did Cinder not tell you?" Cress flushed.

"No, she didn't. Dr. _Erland_? But… why is he—here? Why… if he is _married_ to Sibyl…"

"Well you are _married_ to Levana herself, are you not?" Kai blanched.

"I don't mean to imply that I don't trust—"

"Levana and my mother lost my father's loyalty when they took me away from him," Cress said gently.

Kai's eyes softened into understanding, though he still looked shocked. So when Levana had said she might send Sibyl herself to find Dr. Erland… Kai shuddered.

Thorne was watching the exchange grimly. The news had been an unpleasant surprise to him too, when he found out.

Cress shook herself off. "Well, and here I just meant to welcome you to Rabat. Sorry about that. Anyway, I have to go. But I'll see you around, Kai." She pecked Thorne on the cheek and then left.

Kai stared somewhat wide-eyed at Thorne.

Thorne grimly sipped at his beer, looking over the bay. "You think Sibyl confounded Erland as much as those two do us?" he asked, jerking his thumb back towards where Cress had gone and where Cinder undoubtedly was.

"Maybe." He would hope that.

"But we can't help everything in our pasts, you know? I mean look at Cress. She used to be programmer to Her Royal Lunar Evilness before we broke her out of the satellite they had locked her in. Now she's reconfiguring Bios and programming D-COMM rings for the Resistance. We're all glad to have her on our side. It's a little strange for me though. I suppose I have to admit that I find myself in what would seem to be a monogamous, committed relationship with Miss Crescent Moon."

Kai raised his eyebrows.

"I'm used to being a free spirit. As long as I had a ship, there wasn't a horizon that could hold me in. My longest stay anywhere since I was 14 was probably your hospitable palace dungeon. Your father had me for a good 6 months. My sense of adventure appealed to the ladies, but they would want me to stay and I have always preferred the comfort of my ship to a woman's embrace. Now here I am, stuck on one girl." He shook his head and sighed in good-natured resignation. "I don't know what's becoming of me."

"Ah well, it's probably good for you, on some level."

"Cinder says Cress is settling me. I'm not entirely certain if I'm ok with that."

Kai grinned. "Well, let me know if you figure out how to have a choice in the matter!"

Thorne reached out his beer. "To the women we hate to love." Kai tapped it with his bottle and they both took a drink.

* * *

Several beers later—or maybe a few more, honestly, how could one be expected to keep track?—and Thorne and Kai were high above the ground, doing loop-the-loops in the little Delta C 6000 that Wolf had stolen from the Lunar space station. The entire top of the small ship was the transparent fiber-optic glass hatch, and Kai whooped as Thorne spun them upside-down and he could look up to see the ground below them.

"This is fantastic!"

Thorne straightened out and banked right. He was grinning too. "Now if I just do this—" The plane flipped and Thorne pulled right sharply "—and that spot is Levana, you see? Then I just... jujujuju… jujujujuju," Thorne feigned the motions of shooting at a point on top of the Kasbah, making noises of missiles and explosions. "Boom. Kkksssshhhhhhhhhh and the crowd goes wild!" Kai cheered. Thorne leveled off and they made lazy circles high above the harbor, banking in and out of clouds.

"Do you think we might be seen?" Kai asked, suddenly worried. "Maybe we should land."

"Nah, they've got these ships on permanent stealth mode. Remus's crew—Remus is the Lunar who helps Cinder hide the ships—has the whole place locked down. I guarantee you they know we're up here, even. They can sense it. With their Lunar voodoo." He let go of the steering wheel to wiggle his fingers spookily in the air.

The nose of the little Delta dipped immediately, and Thorne had to pull up sharply to break their dive. "Whoops," he chuckled. "Yeah, so this is basically what we'll be doing with your planes. You give it a try."

Kai smirked as he climbed over his seat into Thorne's. This was probably a really bad idea. "Good luck getting my planes to do this. They're massive." Thorne showed Kai where to hold the steering wheel and the power thruster.

"Ah, you'd be surprised what some of those old girls have in 'em. Go!" He pushed Kai's left hand forward on the thruster, and they shot across the sky, out over the ocean. Thorne laughed delightedly.

"You're right though. Your ships will be used for moving supplies around mostly. Cinder wants me to show you the movements, give you a sense of what we need." Kai banked around to the left, perhaps a bit too quickly, but leveled the plane off before they lost any altitude. Thorne clapped him on the back. "You're a natural, man. But so I thought it would be more fun to show you up here."

He took control back from Kai, a clicked several buttons on the dashboard in front of him. Autopilot took over as Thorne set the plane to slowly circle the bay again, and red lines wrote themselves across the hatch in front of them. It was a map.

"Here's us," Thorne said, pointing to a blinking dot. "Here's the Resistance bases." Purple points in Morocco, Turkey, and France. There was even one on a moon that sat floating off on the back end of the hatch above Kai's head. "Here's any other stuff we've got: separate Bio facilities, suppliers, whatever. The colored lines show what we need, the thickness means how much. Though part of that is because we're transporting mostly by train and it takes longer to get stuff there. The number of lines is how often a place needs something to happen in a month. So if we throw Kashgar in the mix and reconfigure to take into account the quicker turn around with an airship…" he clicked, and a smiling picture of Thorn himself giving a thumbs up appeared over Kashgar as the colored lines rewrote themselves all over the map, "Then see the pretty little pattern we get?"

"Not bad," Kai said, impressed with the dancing lines and dots. "So actually, I don't have to give you ships, do I? It looks like maybe 4 could do the job part time if I swap them in and out."

"Yeah, that should be fine."

"Hey, why is the map kind of… pulsing? The whole hatch, actually."

"What? Oh, shit."

Thorne hit another button, and a small square appeared with Cinder's face on it. "Thorne! Get that plane back in port! You idiot, you might have revealed us!"

"Okay, okay. Relax, girl. We were just having some fun." Thorne threw his hands up defensively and the ship rocked a little when he bumped the wheel. "Whoops. Your boyfriend's a natural flyer." Thorne gestured towards Kai, who blushed red and smiled goofily at Cinder. Thorne hiccoughed a little.

Cinder's eyes flashed dangerously. "Have you been drinking?"

"Aw, Princess…"

"Get down here Thorne. Now." She cut off the transmission.

Thorne sighed and turned to Kai. "Well, Your Highness, time to return to Earth."

Kai grinned. "As you will, Captain."


	16. Explanation

Cinder tapped her foot. She waited in the courtyard of the Kasbah des Oudaias which the Resistance used as an airplane hangar. She was impatient. Erland did not blame her, though. Probably he should have stopped it. When Cress had come into his office 2 hours ago and told him that Thorne and Kaito were up on the roof drinking, he had figured something like this might happen. But, where was the harm in letting the boys have their fun? God knew how little of that the Emperor allowed himself. Then again, Thorne had too much. Perhaps they would balance each other.

"Calm down, Miss Linh. You will wear a hole in the stone with that foot."

Finally Cinder tilted her head up and focused on an approaching point. "Here they come," she said. Dr. Erland could not see the glamoured airship. He had opted not to get a Bio, his excuse being that he was too old for such a delicate surgery. Part of it, too, was that even though he had grown used to not using the gift, he would still feel naked without feeling it there, without the ability to use it. Cinder could see through the glamour with her cyborg vision. It presented an interesting challenge. Usually Lunars did their best to convince themselves of what they wanted to see, as much as they convinced anyone else. But Cinder's built in robotic system would not lie to her. She had to work twice as hard as a normal Lunar to overcome it.

Kaito and Thorne appeared to jump out of thin air suddenly. They landed on the grass of the courtyard, and came towards them, heads down, looking like children about to get a scolding. They stopped in front of Cinder, bracing themselves for an onslaught.

"Carswell." Thorne looked up.

"Princess."

Cinder turned to Kai. She smiled brightly. "So, how did you like flying in the Delta? It's very different from those big ships, isn't it?"

"Um, it's great?" Kai and Thorne exchanged glances.

Erland chuckled at their confusion. "Ah, I remember my first flight. My friend tried to land on an asteroid, which is harder than it sounds. You have to get the velocity and direction just right, which is hard because usually you change speeds when landing. I think one of my friends actually wet himself from fear. Of course flying in space is a bit different from flying within Earth's atmosphere."

Cinder laughed.

"Wait, you're not mad at us?" Thorne questioned Cinder.

She smiled back at him. "Nope."

Kai and Thorne grinned like they had just gotten away with something.

Erland continued for her, "Because it is not our job to be mad. Security breaches, I believe, are Wolf's jurisdiction."

The grin froze on Kai's face. Thorne looked concerned.

"And, as usual, he will let you answer to Scarlet."

Though Kai relaxed a little, Thorne did not look happy about this prospect. "Could you at least take away her gun first?"

Erland just laughed as he and Cinder escorted the prisoners through the halls of the Kasbah.

They led Kai and Thorne into a darkened room, and he and Cinder stood near the door while boot heels clicked back and forth at the other end, the figure all but hidden in the darkness.

"Gentlemen."

A light flicked on to reveal Scarlet, wearing a red military-style jacket, belted at the waist, and carrying a retractable cane, which she snapped shut abruptly. She glared at Kai and Thorne. Erland chuckled at her dramatization. "How kind of you to join us."

Erland murmured to Cinder, and then slipped out of the room and down the hall, followed by Scarlet's proclamations of recklessness, immaturity, and idiocy. He went down to the rooms he shared with his daughter to retrieve his sunglasses.

"Where are you going, Babbo?" Cress asked. Upon coming to Earth, Cress had promptly fallen in love with the Italian word for "dad," just as she had fallen in love with their paintings and the idea of polling a boat down streets of water and most of all with the food. He would have to take her to Venice someday soon, he decided.

"It's the 15th, and the mayor will come inspecting if I am any later on the rental payment. I must go take it to him. My dear, selling those Bios at such low cost does not give us much wiggle room around here."

"I know, but the whole point is that people have them. If we increase the price, people won't buy them." She grabbed a hat with a wide brim and followed him out the door, clearing intent on accompanying him.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. We're having a hard enough time as it is convincing Lunars to get them implanted."

"They ought to be grateful to have such a skilled programmer use her talents to protect them!" He snorted at the affront. They wandered north out of the Kasbah, slipping into the flea markets and the bright sunlight of Rabat.

Cress laughed. "You should talk, Babbo." She reached up to grab the sunglasses which Erland had forgotten on top of his head, and slipped them over his eyes. "You don't have one. And you don't even use—_it_. If we can't convince you, who can we convince?"

"Crescent Moon, I am an old man. I cannot go through such a thing."

"Sure, that's the reason. Hm. I'm thinking maybe I should figure out a way to give it an off-switch…" She looped her arm through Erland's and hummed happily.

Erland hmphed grumpily, but truly he could not have been happier than he was at the moment. Cress darted from his side every now and then, exclaiming over the wares she saw in the various stands and shops. She bought two bright flowers from one girl, tucking one of them into the girl's hair and sending her off with a smile. Cress returned to her father with the other flower, and put this one behind his ear, securing it with the sunglasses.

"Am I beautiful?"

"The most in all the land!" She giggled.

"No, I don't think anyone could possibly be more beautiful than that young man of yours." He leered.

"Oh, you shouldn't tease," she said, chuffing him gently on the arm. "So he likes to look good. Don't we all?"

Erland gave in. He really couldn't argue with this joyful, bubbling treasure which had just reappeared in his life one day. He had thought it was lost to him forever. "Well, I suppose he does seem to think _you_ are more beautiful than he, and that is something." His eyes softened, and he patted the girl on the shoulder.

Cress got very excited when they saw some horses in the street. She laughed and trotted alongside them, her flowered dress dancing about her legs, leaving Erland to hurry after her.

"Slow down, my girl!" Cress finally came back to put an arm around Dr. Erland's back as he bent over, hands on his knees.

"You need to exercise more. Take care of that heart of yours."

"Hah!" Erland huffed, breathing hard, "You see how well you do when you are nearly 60 and skinny as a 10-year-old girl." He smiled at her, straightening up. "But you should take care not to draw too much attention to yourself. The city police ride those horses, and what with the queen's influence everywhere these days, we must be careful. Lunars can sense when someone is immune to their power."

They continued along. In good time they reached the mayor's office, and Erland dropped the payment off with his secretary. The sun was sinking low now. The lights from windows and lanterns beginning to flicker on. The Erlands turned around and headed back for the Resistance base, still talking low and walking arm in arm.

"So, I managed to give His Highness quite a shock today when I met him," Cress began.

"The hair again? You know, I keep telling you—"

"No, dad, no. I said something about Sybil being my mother, thinking that he already knew. He hadn't."

"Oh dear."

"He didn't understand why you had married her. Or why you were here."

Erland grew very quiet.

Cress waited for him to continue. Finally she burst out, "Oh Babbo! Won't you talk to me about before? How could you and mother support Levana? I know, you're sorry, and I forgive you," she spoke over his interruption, "but I just don't understand _why_ in the first place."

"My darling Crescent, I cannot tell you exactly why." Dr. Erland's voice was ashamed and remorseful. It took him a few minutes, but then he slowly began to tell his story. "Levana used her glamour on us, of course, but I cannot blame her entirely for my flaws. It seemed… patriotic. Your mother and I were in awe of her power. We became her closest, her most trusted advisors. We thought that Levana and her family would make our society strong, that they could fix the broken mess it had become. We believed that only strengthening the Lunar gift among the people would bring Luna to the glory that it had back when her grandfather first took power. Eliminating those who did not have the gift was just one part of the process. I didn't realize at the time that it was Channary's method of rule that kept the people repressed, that the lack of bioelectric powers had nothing to do with the poverty of our planet. I did not know that the reports coming in of rich Earthen nations making claims on Luna's resources were false. I did not guess it when our own plague began to devastate Earth. Sybil and I were together in all our beliefs. I did not realize that her knowledge was greater than mine. I did not realize that Levana thought even her sister's methods were too passive, and that she would soon dispose of her. Sybil still believes in all of these things, but healing Luna is not enough for her. Just as Levana does, Sybil blames Earth for Luna's deterioration. She wants to see the moon rise against the six Earthen nations, stronger than them all. She thinks this is the only way to ensure the continuation of Lunar society, the only way to secure food and water for the moon and to build its empire into greatness."

Erland sighed with regret. Cress's brow had furrowed. She knew what it took for him to confess his faults to her. He had been so afraid when they first met again that she would hate him, blame him for what had happened in her life. But Cress knew that the hatred and blame would trouble her far more than forgiveness, and she had thrown herself into his arms and back into his life, overjoyed. Though his words troubled her, and she did not agree with the choices he had made as a young man, she loved her father with something beyond that which words could express. She always had. She rubbed his arm sympathetically.

"In all of this, for all my life, I have been selfish. In fact, even that which led me to break with Sybil was selfish. You see, I had a girl. A darling, joyful baby girl," he squeezed Cress's arm, "who became the light of my days. She was so bright, and I watched her learn to walk, to dance, to read and write, to learn. It warmed my heart to see her grow curious about the world around her. I taught her science. She rejected it, of course." He smiled. "When she discovered there was a new space where she could create her own world, there was nothing that could hold her back. She took to computers like a fish does to water, precocious little thing. And then when this girl turned five, her mother and I began to worry. Our Lunar gifts were strong, but our daughter showed no interest. We tried to get her to focus her thoughts, to bend the image of reality. She only showed us how with one tweak of a line of typing, she _actually_ could bend reality. Change the function of a robot. Reroute the flow of a major canal—Do you remember when you did that to the one flowing through the capital city?" Erland laughed.

"Mother was furious." Cress smiled.

"Yes, and you would not listen to her." Erland's amusement faltered. "Nothing she tried worked. You would not be controlled. When you were seven and she still could not control you with her gift, she went to Levana. And then the day came when they took you away." His voice broke. "I just came home one day and you were not there. When I questioned Sybil, she wouldn't tell me. I yelled at her, threatened her, tried to glamour it out of her. Eventually I broke down, and while I sobbed at the kitchen table, she stood above me with her arms crossed, watching impassively. 'It is for the best,' she told me. I assumed they had killed you, and that was when I realized I had to leave, and so I made arrangements and came to Earth. I hid my trail. I did not want your mother to ever find me."

Dr. Erland had tears in his eyes now. "I have no excuse, my dear girl, for what I did. I refused to see what we were doing was wrong, did not look at the innocent faces we sent to their deaths. When I had realized the truth of the situation, I became disgusted with my own gift. I knew I had a find a way to help Luna. The report came of Levana's treachery against her sister, and the rumors of her niece's survival along with it. It was then I made it my mission to find the girl, raise her better than Levana, and put her on the throne. And now my quest has led me back to the light in my life." Erland gave Cress a watery, affectionate smile.

For a moment they simply smiled at each other, and then Erland's smile turned sly. "And you see how she still does not listen to me!" Cress's mouth opened in surprise. "I told you not to wear my D-COMM ring!"

He growled at her in mock indignation, and she shrieked and danced away from him.

"Give it… here! ... you… I'll get you… hey!" Cress ran through the crowds, laughing. They were back in the flea market now and her father chased after her. To her surprise, she suddenly stumbled across Thorne, who had come looking for them.

"Hi," she said, nearly running full-tilt into his chest.

"Hi there." He smiled. She ducked around him and pretended to hide behind him as Erland came panting up to them.

"Dr. Erland," Thorne greeted him.

"Captain Thorne," Erland wheezed, glaring at a point right behind Thorne's chest. Cress peeked around Thorne's left arm, squealed when her father met her gaze, and came around to him, still laughing.

"Seriously, Babbo, I've got to get you a treadmill."

She turned to Thorne as they started walking out of the flea market and back into the Kasbah des Oudaias. He looked decently sober by now. "How bad was it?"

"I'm grounded. No flying for a week! Can you believe that?"

"Well, you were flying while drunk, Thorne."

"Mildly intoxicated," Thorne waved a hand impatiently, "and anyway, I'm the best airship captain there is! Alcohol doesn't affect my flying at all."

"Sure." Cress wrinkled her nose good-naturedly. "What about Kai? What did Scarlet do to him?"

"That's the most unfair part! Nothing! Well, nothing more than they did to me. An ice cold shower, a few cups of black coffee, and being forced to eat Rhea's cooking, which I guess is torture enough in itself. But he wasn't punished at all!"

"Well, he's kinda the Emperor. What exactly could Scarlet do to him?"

"All she did was yell. And she contacted Torin with the D-COMM she apparently gave him to tell him that Kai would be delayed for a few hours. That's it. It's so unfair."

Cress laughed as she took his hand. Thorne gave her an apologetic grin, and she knew that he accepted his punishment as fair, for all his bluster. He had probably even expected it as he was flying, but he had done it anyway to show Kai that they could be friends. He looked at her tenderly. "You saw us though. Why didn't you stop us, or tell Cinder sooner, or something?"

Cress looked up into Thorne's eyes fondly. "In all those times I've seen Kai on TV or something, I've never once seen him smile. He was smiling with you," she explained simply.

Thorne rolled his eyes and squeezed her hand. "That's just cause you haven't seen him around Cinder. You will in a second though. Come on, we've got to get down there for the meeting."


	17. It's not seduction

**K so here's my beef with Scarlet and Wolf. I am not generally a multi-couple-book type of girl. Even if there are cute side couples, I get attached to one couple and if the author tries to squeeze multiple "getting together" stories out of the others, then they are shallow for me, distract from the people I want to see, don't have the same chemistry, etc. Now don't get me wrong-I think Meyer did a terrific job with Scarlet and Wolf. They are actually a really good couple and by the end of Scarlet, I liked them. But I just was not attached to them the same way as I was Kai and Cinder. I think they are good together, and I like the emotional depth an established couple can provide, but in terms of the drama of first romance, I will really only follow/ route for one couple. This is also why love triangles annoy me. For this reason, I am generally not interested in drama-filled kissing scenes among the side couples. **

**So the point of that spiel is that you will probably not find Scarlet-Wolf kissing scenes in this fic. You may get cute moments between them and between Thorne and Cress, but not the tensiony, fluffy romance that Kai and Cinder have.**

**If this disappoints you, well... convince me otherwise.**

**Btw I LOVE the influx of feedback :)**

"So now that we are actually able to _have_ this meeting," Cinder began, glaring pointedly at Kai and Thorne, "Let's start with introductions. I believe everyone knows this is Emperor Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth. Kai, you know me, Scarlet, Wolf, Cress, Thorne, and Dr. Erland. You would have met Émilie in New Beijing." They were in a small area-turned-conference-room on the lower floor of the Kasbah. The walls down here were still stone, but lights were imbedded in the ceiling. Right now the room was lit only by the bright projection against the wall of the same map that Thorne had showed Kai, and the hallway light streaming in through the doorway.

Kai looked at the tall blond which Cinder pointed to, and was surprised to recognize the girl he had danced with at his wedding. She nodded happily at him and he smiled back.

"This is Remus. His family has been one of the major underground transporting operations for Lunars escaping to Earth for the past 50 years. He'll be the one flying you to Lagos." A big, dark-skinned man gave Kai a nod. He could see Thorne grumble a little in his peripheral vision.

"Rhea is helping Wolf with intelligence on Levana's space movements. He's also our cook." A mutated wolf-man standing next to Wolf grinned, exposing vicious-looking teeth. He still managed to look friendly.

"And finally, you may know Zygmunt and Michael of Bavaria, sons to the king-elect of Germany." Kai did recognize them. He was more than a little surprised to find them there. "Is the European Federation involved in all this?"

"No, just Germany right now," responded Zygmunt, older of the two. "And we hope not, ah, conspicuously so just yet." He flushed, knowing that Kai's presence here was far more conspicuous than his own.

"Levana needs to be shown that she can't just meddle around with the Earthen nations," added Michael. "We will do our part." Kai nodded.

"Good, so," continued Cinder. "First we need to talk make sure Kai understands what we need in regards to airships and movements—"

"Already done," interjected Thorne. "Told you, Princess, I showed him while we were '_goofing off._'" He looked pleased with himself.

"You showed him the movements?"

"Yep."

"And what we need?"

"You bet."

"And did you get to the part where we also want to use his ships to bring as many as we can to Luna and to be part of the attack when we storm the Lunar capital building?"

Thorne's expression faltered.

Kai stepped in. "So that's the plan, huh? I figured it was something like that. You think it'll work?" He addressed Cinder.

Wolf answered. "If we can convince enough Lunars to support Cinder, it will. The people hate Levana there. Truly hate her. The difficulty is, they've been cowed for so long that it will be hard to get them out on the streets. But if we can, then yes. No government can withstand a full revolution."

"They have in the past."

"Not without military support."

Kai laughed. "Well, what do you call the Lunar army? They're not exactly a troop of boy scouts. They could stop you in your tracks."

Here Scarlet took over the conversation. "That's why we've been going after the thaumaturges. Without them Levana can't make her army fight. Right now the real uncertainty is what if the army decides of its own free will to take power? And that's why Wolf and his pack are so important. That's also why we need Winter."

"Winter?" Kai's expression was confused. Something clicked after a minute, but he still looked perplexed. "Winter, Levana's stepdaughter, Winter? Princess Winter?"

"Yes."

"And how do you intend to get her on your side?"

No one said anything, and Scarlet just looked pointedly at Kai.

It took Kai a minute. "Wait, me? You want me to get her?"

"Well, you do currently have the greatest connection to her. Invite her to New Beijing. We can set up a meeting."

"You want me to recruit her. Right under Levana's nose."

"Yes."

"What if I do that, and we set up the meeting, and she doesn't support the Resistance? If she tells Levana, the whole game is up."

"Yes, and that's why we want to make sure of her loyalties _before_ we introduce her to the Resistance."

"And how do you propose I do that?"

Erland spoke up, fiddling with a hat in his hands. "Perhaps you could… become… _friendly_ with her."

Kai stared hard at him.

"Just… make her feel safe. Comfortable with you. Like she can trust you." His tone was careful.

Kai raised one eye brow, looking around the room. Cinder did not seem happy, but she did nothing more than grumble to herself slightly. They had clearly discussed this. "Are you kidding me?" He finally burst out, spinning back to face Dr. Erland.

He held up his hands as if to try and contain Kai's reaction. "I am sorry, my boy!"

"First Levana, now her step-daughter? Don't you think that's a bit wrong?"

"I promise you after this I will not ask you to seduce any more Lunar women. I will leave you to do that at your own discretion!"

"_Seduction_…?" Kai spluttered. He looked around the room for support.

"I agree with the Emperor," Wolf spoke up in his quiet way.

"_Thank_ you," said Kai.

"He cannot seduce the daughter when he is still in the midst of his seduction with the mother."

Well that was not really the defense he had been hoping for. "Wha…?"

"On the contrary—" Thorne began, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Cress.

"Levana herself said that she did not care if Kaito took a lover," Erland argued with Wolf. "It would give Kai and Winter an excuse to talk alone. He can continue his relationship with Levana at the same time."

"I'm not seducing Levana!" Kai exclaimed.

"Did she not ask you for an heir?" said Wolf, in what Kai could have sworn was sarcastic innocence.

"What!?" Cress, Scarlet, and the two German princes turned to Kai in unison.

"You told him?" Kai looked at Cinder.

She shrugged guiltily. "He needed to know the chances of your survival."

Well that was great.

"All right, Kai. Lunar style." "Of course, it is natural for—" "Oh, that's just absolutely—"

"All right, stop." Kai said loudly. "_To the point_, don't we want Winter to be our ally?"

He turned to Cinder, who nodded.

"And do you really think that will be achieved through deception?"

Erland said, "At least it would be enough to get her to talk to you privately once or twice, enough for you to judge whether she is loyal to her stepmother or not. Then it does not need to continue, but as I said would be a good ruse to get Levana to leave you alone."

Kai shook his head. "No."

"Kaito—"

"No. I will invite Winter. And I will get her on our side. I'll figure it out. But I will not be seducing anyone."

The room was silent for a minute and then Thorne threw an arm dramatically across his forehead and clapped the other around Cinder's shoulders. "You hear that Cinder? I guess we'll both just have to wait until he decides he's ready to come back on the market. Woe is us."

About 15 minutes later they had decided. Lunar traditions were an odd mix of cultures. Because it had originally been a colony created in an international effort by the Earthen nations, they had inherited many different holidays. Some stuck, other's didn't. One of the most popular surviving holidays on Luna was Day of the Dead, originally a North American holiday. Families usually got together on this day, and so Kai would invite Princess Winter to New Beijing to celebrate. An envoy from the Resistance would also come in the hopes of meeting her.

And then things were wrapping up and it was time for Kai to go. Everyone got ready to leave the conference room and head in their own directions. Scarlet touched Kai on the shoulder as she and Wolf made their way out. "It was nice to meet you, Kai. I look forward to working with you again." She smiled. Wolf nodded deeply to Kai, and then they left, Émilie waving merrily as she trailed them.

Dr. Erland came forward to put his hands on Kai's shoulders. Even though the old doctor was looking up at him, he made Kai feel small, like he was a child again and going for a checkup down in the hospital wing of the New Beijing palace. Pride and love shone from Erland's face, and ridiculously Kai felt the urge to cry, throw all his responsibilities to Erland's feet, and have the old man catch him and comfort him, telling him he understood. That he knew how much it hurt to lose his father. That things would get better. That Kai was not abandoned.

Before Kai did any of this though, Dr. Erland spoke. "Chin up, Your Highness. We will take care of this pesky little queen. Funny, isn't it? We are planning a spectacular breakup of the only well-known Lunar-Earthen alliance ever, and I do believe it will do more for Lunar-Earthen relations that anything in the last 50 years." He chuckled. "I hope the experience does not turn you away from marriage entirely. But! Not to worry. The first one is always the hardest." And Kai was not the least bit emotional anymore. Now he was just embarrassed. Dr. Erland wrapped both arms around Kai's shoulders and squeezed. "Take care, my boy. We will be seeing you." Kai embraced him back for a moment before the two men stepped away from each other.

Cress came forward as her father stepped back. Skipping the formalities, she dove straight into a big hug, throwing her arms around Kai's neck. "It was so lovely to meet you, Kai. I hope we'll see you again soon." She stepped back, smiling.

Thorne clapped an arm around his shoulders, and suddenly Kai was a bit overwhelmed again. He did not want to leave the Resistance and this odd little gathering, filled with strange and mismatched puzzle pieces that somehow fit together like a family.

"I'll see you next time," Thorne said to him. "See if you can get Remus to let you fly once you're over the Sahara." He grinned.

"Ready to go?" Remus, who would be flying him alone now that Thorne was grounded, asked him. "It will just take me about 15 minutes to get the plane ready for flight." He looked questioningly at Kai, who nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be up there in a minute." Nodding, Remus and the others left, Thorne waggling his eyebrows as he went.

And then it was just Cinder in the room with Kai, shuffling with the computer.

She raised an eyebrow slyly at him as he approached her. "I can't believe you let them talk you into suggesting I seduce Princess Winter."

"Believe me, it wasn't my decision. I was rather out-voted in the matter."

"You know, as future ruler of a monarchy, you _are_ allowed to overrule the whole democratic process now and then, especially if it's a stupid decision."

Cinder grunted.

"Guess this makes us even for the whole getting drunk thing?" He glanced up at her hopefully.

Her expression was stern for a minute before it cracked. She rolled her eyes and a slow smile spread across her features. "I've never seen your 'sad puppy' face before. You must've gotten away with murder as a kid."

Kai grinned. "Better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?"

"Right." Cinder shook her head. "I'm glad you're friends with Thorne now though. I'm still not sure why you didn't like him in the first place."

Kai let out a nervous laugh. "Aha, you could tell, could you?"

"You're an easy read, Kai."

"Am I?" His mouth quirked, and he stepped closer to her, unsure what he really wanted to happen here. He had deliberately stayed after everyone else left. But all he knew was that he wasn't quite in control anymore.

Cinder did not move away from him when he stepped close, but the speed of her breathing increased. She met his gaze. "Yeah," she breathed.

"What else can you read?" Kai stared into her eyes, the color of a summer storm, but Cinder didn't answer. Her pupils were dilated in the dim room and wisps of brown hair framed her face, curled over her cheekbones. Their gaze did not break when it should have.

"I guess we should say goodbye," Cinder said after a few minutes. She squeezed a hand into the space between them, extended for him to shake. He grasped it, still looking into her eyes, but neither moved their hands. She breathed out again as he slowly used the hand to pull her into an embrace.

Though she put her arms around his neck the same way Cress had, this was a very different hug. How could it not be when he was so aware of every part of her, so close to him? He wondered if she could feel his heart racing. Likely she could, as his arms, wrapped around her small frame, held her just a little closer than was probably appropriate for friends. It felt _good_ to hold her, the fabric of her gloves rough against his skin, her breath on his neck, uneven. And suddenly Kai knew just how incorrect it was to think that his feelings for her had been false, that she had somehow tricked him into liking her, led him astray. Even if her gift unnerved him, her lies shook his confidence, her title discouraged him, her importance dissuaded him, her power over _him_ terrified him, holding her like this… this was… _new_. She reached just past his nose, and Kai turned his face into her softly, breathing in her hair, not daring to open his eyes. She pressed back in response.

This was going too far. Fateen's warnings flashed in his mind but Kai could feel himself drawn in and he did not want to let go. This was scary. How one girl that he had known for two months could make him want to make decisions that would affect billions… This was so new. The last time he had liked a girl, Bora, the cook from the palace kitchens, she rejected him. A cook couldn't be with a prince. And she had had a fiancé. But Cinder… Could he afford to like a girl this much? A Lunar this much? A princess this much?

She loosened her hold. Her eyes were closed, her face turned in slightly. As was his. She pulled away just a little, not releasing his neck, her cheek sliding past his jaw. Kai wanted to lean down and draw her into him. He had kissed those lips before, but not out of desire.

"Kai." It made him quiver to feel her breath against him as she spoke.

She did not say anything more, but let the way she pronounced his name wash over him. She held him more tightly again and he put a hand gently on her hair. "I'm going to miss you," he whispered into her ear. He reached back and pulled her left hand away from his neck. Bringing it between them, he slowly peeled off her glove, giving her time to pull away if she needed. Cinder watched him with wide eyes. He brought her metallic palm up and pressed it to his cheek, covering it with his hand, his eyes never leaving hers. Kai rested in that moment for a minute, under the earth with Cinder, somehow feeling like he was flying again.

Then he let go. He stepped back a little shakily, and she smiled up at him timidly.

"I'll be in New Beijing in two weeks."

"I know." Could she hear how his heart still pounded? See how she still held him under her spell? Dr. Erland might insist that Lunars don't have magic, but Kai was not so sure that the girl in front of him did not.

They both jumped when the computer went to sleep, shutting off the projection against the wall that had lit the room. Cinder walked over to flick on the lights, and Kai shielded his eyes against the sudden brightness.

They looked at each other and laughed rather nervously.

"Um."

"Right."

"Thanks, for all this, Cinder. I'm… I'm really glad I got to meet everyone. To see this."

"Yeah, I'm glad you came."

"So."

"You'll be in touch? About Winter?"

Kai nodded. "And you'll let me know about developments in Kashgar?"

"Sure."

Kai stood there, feeling a little awkward now the spell had loosened its hold. Cinder looked like she felt the same. Kai tried his smile on her, just to see if it still worked.

Yep.

She grinned as well, and suddenly they were friends again.

"Go on," she said, nodding at the door. "Remus isn't patient, and I don't think he's above leaving without you."

Kai chuckled, and with a last look at her, his was on his way to the courtyard. It was only once he got there that he realized they had forgotten to actually say goodbye. He climbed into the plane where Remus waited for him. They would fly straight to Lagos, easily making up the 7 hours that Kai had spent away from the train in time to meet it at the station. He sat next to the window and watched as Rabat and the Resistance, and the girl behind it all dropped away from him.


	18. Allies

The next morning, Kai and Torin went to meet with Prime Minister Kamin in the capitol. They had barely gotten through a very stiff and uncomfortable breakfast when they were interrupted.

"Prime Minister!" A harried looking official burst through the doors, speaking quickly. "I am sorry to interrupt but I think you'll want to see this." He cast the shadow of a glare in Kai's direction. "Please come quickly."

Kamin looked at Kai, before turning back to the man and saying, "This had better be good, Turay."

She got up from her chair, gesturing for Kai and Torin to please follow her. They swept down the wide, open hallways of the AU capitol building, light streaming in the many oversized windows. The official, Turay, led them down to the hospital wing and into a chaotic stream of motion.

Nurses bustled up and down the halls, shepherding patients. Visitors stood around, looking exhausted. There was a woman being wheeled rapidly down a hall on a gurney, surrounded by several doctors in scrubs and one sobbing girl. They joined the hurrying group. The girl looked to be about the Emperor's age, maybe slightly older. She had a hand on the shoulder of the injured woman, who must have been a mother or aunt. This woman lay, her eyes closed, a grimace of pain on her face. Also there were a few long, bleeding scratches to which the girl pressed a damp cloth now and then, murmuring and crying. The woman held her shoulder, which Torin saw was bleeding profusely. Her entire right side beneath her breasts had been covered with a blue cloth, preventing the officials from seeing the extent of what had happened to her, though it was sticky and damp in places.

The look on the Emperor's face was immediately one of concern. Prime Minister Kamin expression matched Kai's though hers was much fiercer. She approached the woman, and the doctors brushed her off.

"Prime Minister, you cannot be here!"

They spoke in rapid, harsh Bantu for a moment, and then Kamin said to the woman, "Please tell us what happened to you."

"My name is… Hadiza Oni. This is my step-daughter… Sonia." Her words and breaths were labored. "Earlier this… morning, I was attacked… by Lunar mutants… on the way to work."

Kai sucked in a breath. Torin was alarmed. They waited for the Prime Minister's reaction. She scowled at them. "You really have no control over your own country anymore, do you?" The question was scathing.

"There were not Commonwealth soldiers with them this time, were there, Madam?" Torin questioned Hadiza.

"No. Definitely… no humans. But they knew… knew I am… cyborg. Ripped out…the metal... splints… in my leg… and ribcage."

"When did this happen?" Kamin's voice was furious.

"Half an hour…"

They had reached the quarantine wing, where the woman would be rushed into surgery, and a set of nurses stopped Kamin, Kai, Torin, and the sobbing girl from following the gurney further.

Torin was stunned at the violence.

Kamin turned to them angrily. "What do you intend to do about this?"

Torin was going to respond but Kai cut back, just as heatedly. "Prime Minister, you act as though this had not been the plan discussed among all Earthen nations not three months ago! I did not marry Levana out of any desire to do so, and I have no more control over her now than I did then. Did you honestly expect that I would? This kind of random killing is precisely the reason I didn't want to marry her in the first place!"

"It wasn't random."

The three officials looked at Sonia, who was pulling herself together and wiping the lines of makeup from her cheeks.

"What?"

She straightened. "My stepmother runs one of Central Africa's big oil and plastics manufacturing chains. They thought she was a supplier for the Lunar Resistance, so they attacked her to try and get information from her."

Kamin stared at the girl. Kai and Torin exchanged a glance.

"And did they get the information?" Kamin asked Sonia quietly.

"We're not involved with them!" Sonia said.

"Maybe not, but I have an inkling that there are some oil suppliers in Africa who are, and I bet Hadiza knows them." She closed her eyes tiredly. "Please, let's get out of this sterilized area. It is giving me a headache."

* * *

Kamin got a nurse to show them to a private waiting room. Sonia did not want to go too far from her grandmother.

"You know of the Lunar Resistance?" Kai asked Kamin.

"Everyone knows of it." She snapped. "Rumors, conspiracies, reports of thaumaturge killings… they're causing a great big headache for us down here on Earth, where we have to deal with Levana's reaction."

"Yes but not everyone knows that they need oil, or would guess that they're actually on Earth."

Kamin looked at the Emperor for a long minute. "I am not unaware of what happens in my country. I have heard the rumors that the Resistance is in the AU. I know that there is Letumosis research being done in the north, and would not be surprised if the Resistance were involved. I have noticed that the citizens which the AU suspects may be Lunar are migrating to certain northern cities. Even some cyborgs are headed that way, and cyborg migration is almost unheard of because they are not permitted to go alone." She sighed. "My researchers also found this on a public website, clearly an attempt to disseminate its usefulness." She tapped on her netscreen and showed them a picture of a Bio, complete with a diagrams and instructions on how to construct one. There were also the explanation of plans for massive manufacturing operation of the device, a pricing scheme, and the belief that every person on Earth and Luna were entitled to jurisdiction over their own thoughts. There was a black and white picture of a crescent moon in the corner of the page. "We believe this is why they may need suppliers. These products, of course, are made from petroleum."

"And yet you have not done anything to rout out their presence in your country." Torin's voice was careful.

Kamin looked at him without expression and answered slowly. "If it is true that they have found the Lunar Princess and that she is preparing to overthrow Levana in favor of a more peaceful rule, I think that is in the best interest of the African Union, as it is for all countries."

"Have you considered that she might need help?" Kai asked. When Kamin looked askance at him he added, "the Princess, I mean."

Torin gritted his teeth. The Prime Minister regarded Kai thoughtfully for a long minute before carefully answering. "I tell you this in good faith, as perhaps I have acted foolishly in my treatment of the Commonwealth. I know that you did not wish to marry Levana. I can also see that threats against your country seem to affect her very little. And because I believe you will not tell your wife, I admit that it would be far preferable to see Selene on the throne. Before, I would not have assisted her in getting there. However now, Levana is increasingly becoming a threat and it is clear that appeasing, bargaining, or going along with her schemes are not possible options. Therefore, were the opportunity to present itself, in secret of course, yes, I would assist Princess Selene, and I suppose that means the Lunar Resistance." She turned to Sonia. "So, Sonia, would you tell me again, are you and your stepmother involved in the Lunar Resistance?"

The girl shook her head, slowly. "No, not us, but I think Mama did know some people who had connections…"

Kai spoke up again, making Torin cringe. The boy was far too risky. "If you are interested in a full list," he said to Kamin, "I believe I can get you access to one."

She whipped her head around to stare at him.

A doctor came into the room suddenly, and they all stood. He had clearly just come from the operating room. Sonia's eyes focused on the man, in green scrubs with stomach-turning dark spots on his front, and the hope on her face was almost painful.

He looked around and spotted her. Then he shook his head sadly. "Miss," he said, "I'm so sorry."

"No," Sonia choked out in a sob. A nurse came forward to comfort the now hysterical girl as the doctor left them in peace. Kamin put a hand on the girl's shoulder. Kai and Torin stood in shock. Hadiza was dead. A woman they had spoken to not 20 minutes before. Kai felt sick. Torin looked grim.

Kamin faced them again.

"Please. Take me to them," she said to Kai.

* * *

A few hours later Remus was landing them back in Rabat. Kai led Torin and Kamin into the Kasbah des Oudaias and looked around for the others. Remus did not have any idea where they were. Suddenly they saw Scarlet hurrying past and Kai called out to her.

"Kai!" she said in surprise. "What are you—Prime Minister Kamin!" Scarlet's eyes widened in alarm. "Kai, what did you do?"

"Relax, Scarlet, the Prime Minister would like to help. Where is everyone? Can you call a meeting?"

"Um." Scarlet glanced back the way she had come. "You've kind of caught us in crisis mode at the moment."

"What's happened?"

Scarlet shook her head. "I have to run for an AED. They're down that way." She pointed, and took off again.

"An AED," said Torin in concern. "Who had a heart attack?"

"You know as well as me," Remus said, "but they must be in the infirmary."

He led them down a flight of stairs and into a large stone underground space that looked like a positively medieval place to house an infirmary.

"Kai?" Thorne noticed him come in with the others.

"What's going on?" Kai asked.

Scarlet came running back through with the AED.

"Cinder!" Thorne called.

"Kai?"

"CLEAR!" Dr. Erland's voice came from the other end of the room.

"It's the Prime Minister!"

"Kai what are you doing here?" Cinder had come up to them.

"Cinder, there's been more attacks on the AU. Levana's soldiers—"

"We know," she said, her voice panicked and grief-stricken. "Rhea."

Scarlet went running back out of the room in search of more bandages.

Kai looked up to the other end of the room where Dr. Erland was shouting "CLEAR!" again, and saw a very big, hairy, bloody hand hanging off the end of the bed. There was a heart monitor hooked up to the person on top of it, but it had not moved since Kai had walked in the room.

"CLEAR!"

And Scarlet was back, but Dr. Erland was putting down the handles on the AED and turning off the machine, shaking his head sadly.

"It is no use. He is gone."

Cinder stared at him, horrified but not really surprised. She and Thorne left Kai and his party standing at the edge of the room, and for the second time that day Kai felt like an intruder on a private tragedy. The main members of the Resistance grouped around the bed, grim and grieving, while doctor Erland covered the bed and the figure on it in a white sheet.

After several minutes, Cinder walked towards them, flanked by the members of her crew.

"We didn't expect to see you back here so soon," she said tiredly to Kai.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"Levana's soldiers. They landed in Rabat. I don't think they knew our location, but when they saw Rhea, you know, another mutant soldier and a runaway, naturally they attacked… They would have gotten away with the information, but Thorne flew up and shot down their airship. Remus's crew will be doing damage control for the next few days. We can only hope that word of this does not escape."

"Yeah, by the way, you are grounded for another week for that, Thorne," Scarlet said.

"What? But I saved the day!" Thorne complained.

"And disobeyed an order in the process," she snapped. "You're not in charge of security. Wolf is."

"Then why doesn't Wolf give me my punishment?"

Both Wolf and Scarlet growled at him.

"What happened on your end, Kai?" This was Cress.

"They attacked in Lagos again. After meeting with one of the victims, Prime Minister Kamin decided she would like to assist with the Resistance's efforts, especially Dr. Erland's plague research."

"Prime Minister," Cinder said with a tired attempt at a smile. "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. I trust that Kai has informed you well of our need for secrecy. I am Princess Selene of Luna. Welcome to the Resistance."


	19. Sorry sorry sorry sorry not a chapter

All right my dumplings, you have spoken! The chapter is down. To my lovely readers who wanted it to stay, I am so sorry. I assume you will be satiated when there is more romance put into the story though. That said, because there was certainly a mixed reaction, there will probs be similar elements to the repost. Head's up for a new chapter soon!

Oh and you-yes you-you need to send me a private message! Seriously, girl, how can I talk to you otherwise? :-P Glad you are writing.


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